I’ll Just Remote In: Nana and the Computer

As a member of the under-30 crowd, one of my chief family duties involves grandparents and computers. My parents are unique because they are very tech savvy. I don’t think there is too much that I can tell my parents about computers. Although, it is hard to get my mother to quit talking about directories and files. The main point of computorial contention these days is my 75 year old Nana. She grew up in a time where the TV was breaking new ground and computers took up warehouses. It’s not her fault. She actually is ahead of many others of her generation born in the late 1930s. She has owned several computers and was good at using them at one time. In 1991 she owned a PC junior which was a cutting edge home computer at the time. It was convenient because what she wanted was right there. There was no clicking, right clicking, drop down menus or programs to open. However, life happens and she quit using a computer until 2007 or so. By that time, modern computing had changed a great deal from her simplistic PC Junior.

Now, she uses her used, Dell, Windows 7 PC for email, music (NPR mostly), watching a few videos and some other light tasks. However, the fact that there are multiple things to click on can be difficult for her to manage and remember. Finding files once she has downloaded them is an on-going problem no matter how simple I make it and downloading attachments is still quite out of the question. Often when she asks about something, I just remote in using Splashtop and just take care of it.

There are plenty  of times she had told that she misses the simplicity of her PC Junior and her old word processing program “Bank Street Writer.” If I could get that to work on a modern computer, trust me, I would right away.

She is guilty of accidentally clicking on things, having multiple instances of her email program going and so on. I think the next time she gets a computer it will be an iPad. Her project this winter is to learn how to use her iPod so that she can get ready for an iPhone. Having had the chance to learn about computers at a deeper level and to help her use a computer (she has too many books on the subject) has been an experience that I will hang on to for the rest of my life. I really hope that whatever fantastic technology we have when I’m 75 I will be better at using it and more willing to have help. It has been an amazing journey with her and I love every second of it. Some of our bonding has been talking about how much computers have changed. However, I’m sure that just as she is sentimental for the old days of “Bank Street Writer” and her PC Junior; I will probably be reminiscent of my “ancient” Macbook pro (that I am using right now) and my passe iPhone 5s and iPad Mini 2. Now, if you excuse me, I need to go fix her email again!