Clarification: This person is NOT a freak...

She is my mom! Ok, so I have been on the fence about this post as my mom reads my blog sometimes and I would not want her to feel insulted. BUT after a few observations on this topic, I feel compelled to write about this phenomenon. I will just hope she has a sense of humor about it, like I do! I am talking about... Technology And My Mom (echoey sound effect). A confusing, frustrating, and funny combination. This has nothing to do with age, as I have noticed that since the early days of technology (tape to tape, answering machines, speed dial, etc.) there have been issues. Some classic examples:

Television: The TV in our house confuses my mom whenever she visits. Once I saw her with one of our remote controls raised high over her head and she was clicking and clicking it. I asked her what she was doing, and she said she was trying to lower the volume of the TV. I said, "but why are you pointing it at the bookshelf?"

Also, anytime she has our remote in her hands she will inevitably change the output so that it ends up on some snowy channel with no volume, probably some station from like Nebraska or something. I have no idea how the TV ends up in that state, I couldn't do that if I tried!

Cell phone: My mom is under the impression that you must yell while simultaneously holding your hand in front of your mouth in order to be heard by the person on the other end. I actually have a picture illustrating this, but I won't post it, but it is funny, hee hee.

Home phone (aka "land line"): At one point I wanted to make life easier for my mom so I put all her important numbers into her phone thinking it would make things more convenient. All she has to do is push the phonebook button and then use the arrows to scroll. I have demonstrated this to her several times, but she still just hands me the phone and says, "can you call so and so for me?" After about four years of telling her all the numbers are in the the phone and you just have to blah blah blah, she will still go find her old black address book and look up numbers!

Social Media: My sis and I recently set up a Facebook page for my mom so she can stay in touch with some of our relatives. I know what you are thinking at this point, but anyways! One time she was at my house and asked if she could log in to her account from my computer. I did everything except put her password in and said, "There. Just put in your password and log in." I went back to what I was doing and after like three minutes I said, "Did you log in?" She was still typing and said she was almost done. I asked, "What are you typing?" Then I went to look and she was in the process of creating a new account!
Later, while we were on the phone, I was trying to explain how instant messaging worked and the dialogue between us was hilarious! Well, to me it was anyways..

Her: Where do I see who is messaging me?
Me: The bottom right hand corner, you should see my name...
Her: Where it says "news feed?"
Me: No, the VERY bottom of your screen, on the right... Her: I don't see any names...do I click on the yellow thing?
Me: Yellow thing?
Her: Yes, I see a yellow thing, should I click on it?
Me: I don't see a yellow thing on my screen.
Her: Oh, I clicked on it and now I am offline!
(followed by Spanish expletives)

And there you have it! I love my mom to death and hope that she manages to skip this post, ha ha! Happy Friday, and thanks for reading!