Early Adopters/Late Adapters

When I was six or seven, we were the first people on our block to get cable. But then my parents kept the cable box (the brown/faux wood kind with the white cursor) until I was 21.

And sure, we had a VHS (skipped right over the Beta phase) but now they refuse to replace it with a DVD player.

The folks were also quick to get call waiting, caller ID and Call Notes. Yet they haven’t changed the incoming greeting (with my voice on it) since about 1994.

When it came to computer technology, my parents were some of the first people I knew who had email. Proof? Their AOL address has the year ’95 in it. In fact, I was reluctant to get it but my dad kept bugging me. I thought “What do I need this for?”

But now I think they could use a little email crash course, you know, to bring them up to date on how the system has changed in ten years. I spoke with the book club girls about this the other night and they too had parental email anecdotes to share:

First, I’m not sure my mom knows how to reply to an email. Yes, if I send her one she does send a response but she always starts a whole new email and my message is nowhere to be found.

I also don’t think she likes to use the subject line because there never is a topic. I’m totally unprepared when I open her emails!

While ReadBecca’s mom DOES know about the subject line, she’s not sure how to use it. She always writes “Houston” (since that’s where she lives). ReadBecca is fully aware that her mother lives in Houston so this hasn’t proved helpful.

Also, ReadBecca’s mom always, always inserts the red flag on emails. Naturally, this just makes the reader numb to its urgentness. Although an uninformed reader might take that as “Houston, we have a problem.”

My friend Lindsay’s dad dates and time stamps the top of every email, as if it’s a formal letter: “January 19, 4:22 p.m., Dear Lindsay…” Will somebody tell him that the sophisticated email system actually does this for you?

And I wanna know, who taught my mom about attachments? She uses them all the time now. But she just puts little things in there. Like the other day she sent me an email that said, “I thought you might like this website” and instead of just pasting the link into the email, she attached a Word document with the link! What?


Don’t get me wrong, we’re proud of our Baby Boomer parents for experimenting with technology. We just think it might be time for a little intervention. If you wanna register your parents for it, just send me an email. But spots will go fast. Better red flag it.