Mom on facebook

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 !