It was an enchanting experience to teach Mom how to use the facebook.
It was like teaching a 3 year old to write ABCD… from scratch. She was enchanted
with the facebook, more so, because all my cousins, relatives and her friends
were on facebook. At the beginning she was like any other enthusiast learner,
but as I started to explain to her how it worked, she became overloaded with
information and I had to take it slow from there. (It’s the learning curve that
every learner goes through, enthusiast beginner, mid level laggard and then an addicted
enthusiast!)
At the beginning she even found it tough to find the
characters on the keyboard, but after a thorough scan she would hit the right
buttons. Bingo! The first thing I taught her was to post a new status on her wall,
which read “Hi everyone, I am new to facebook, and hope it is going to be a great
experience. Stay in touch”. Many friends and family members were happy to see
her on facebook and warmly welcomed her.
She would eagerly wait for me to come back home, and pounce
on my laptop to post new status updates. There after she would post about her
daily routines. One day she posted her photos on her profile page; the next day
she eagerly waited for me to come home, so that she could check, who all had
commented on her picture. True as can be; at times she was disappointed when
the response was cold!!
Next level was to edify her about logging into her account
and logging off. She even did a revision to memorize her user id and password. At
times she would commit mistakes, and key in incorrect grammar or spellings. I
used to lose my nerve over it, but most of the time I thought about; “how much
cool and patience she had maintained when I was a kid; she for granted all my sins
and idiotic activities”. She has a lot of patience; which I unfortunately lack.
Even though she committed mistakes, she would begin from scratch and keep on
trying till she got it all right. Best part was that she would not hesitate to
ask if she had written anything wrong. She had started posting pictures and commenting
on pictures that she liked. It was mesmerizing for her to check the pictures of
relatives abroad, whom she had not seen in ages. In just a few days she not
only learnt about the facebook but also learnt a lot about computers.
She was so hooked to facebook, that she told me to get her a
new laptop so that she can stay connected with everybody, and also do video
chat with people who are far away. She said I would be able to do video chat
with you guys also when I go back to Delhi from here. On that note, I am
actually thinking of buying a new laptop for her so that she can enjoy the
facebook and the virtual company of her friends and relatives. She can even do video
chats with whomsoever she wants to.
It's great to see her use the technology. And, she's really
come up to speed using this new fad !
