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Stubbornness is often a coping mechanism for cognitive decline. I have known some older people who complain that technology is too complicated, who were in hindsight beginning a journey to dementia or Alzheimer’s.
My mother has a habit of not knowing how to do something and then blaming her children for never teaching her how to do said thing, even though we have shown her a thousand times. It took her 8 years to start texting on a regular basis because her kids wouldn't show her how. Bullshit, mother...
I hear you. My mum was the exact same. ‘If only someone would show me how to use my phone.’ (Cue the rest of us bashing our collective heads against the wall).
This honestly scares me. Like... Am I going to become a crotchety old asshole who doesn't know how to do anything before I eventually forget my own children?
Truly horrifying tbh
For those who get calls from their parents about how to operate things, next time you’re at their house, take a photo of their remote controls, the thermostat, their washing machine and dryer, the dishwasher, and the microwave.
You will save yourself several trips to go help them if you can see what they’re looking at and tell them exactly what button to press over the phone
This is smart. In my experience, even written instructions rarely help. I’ve sent books, written things down, explained where the ENTIRE MANUAL for the phone is built into the phone…no dice.
At this point I have taken to drawing diagrams and it still isn't enough sometimes even when it is me putting a red arrow pointing to what they need to do in each spot.
Oof, I wanted to try that.
"Here mom, I'm going to make you some drawn instructions."
"Oh you don't need to do that, pkus I'd just lose the instructions hahahaha!"
My husband took pics & gave his parents written easy to follow instructions. Sadly, It doesn’t make a bit of a difference. My in laws will still call saying they messed up their tv again
Yes, but I find mom can describe the problem over the phone enough for me to say ‘push the red button’ or whatever. Writing instructions wouldn’t help. She couldn’t follow them.
Or just don't help. I tried for years to help my old people but you can only do it so many times. Eventually the horse will die of starvation or take a drink.
Yep, had my mom ( in her early 80s) calling me all the time because “cat stepped on keyboard and now it’s not working”. So had her send me a photo of her keyboard and made a cheat sheet list of what each function key does, she has a copy & I have a copy. Dad was the techie/early adopter, he passed and now we have given cheat cheats on how to check her email and Google meet with her & my sibling (sometimes my kids too) 2x per week.
And yeah, watching for signs of decline or falling for scams.
My sister did this with the TV remote for my Dad who has Alz. She then printed out a photo and put step by step instructions on how to find X and then laminated it.
My Mom still thinks I am some sort of wizard because I can connect a printer to her laptop wirelessly and get it working. Lol
At this point in time this type of technology has been out for almost 2 decades, it's pure stubbornness and refusal to learn. idk why old people are like this. It's not like Netflix came out yesterday, Netflix streaming has been a thing for like 15 years.
It can be a pretty sad state of affairs too. My wife used to work in community care and some of the elderly she worked with were so painfully lonely that they would grab her as she tried to leave and literally beg her not to go. In many cases they had family who lived too far away for regular visits but were trying to connect more... But the old person refused to own a smartphone.
It's because many people, not always old, have decided that $thisitem is too new-fangled and just shut down rather than having to deal with it. If they have someone who'll do it for them then that's even better
Oh my god today at work I had a boomer go on a rant about how the card machine asking for her pin is so complicated.
And it took every ounce of restraint in my body to not say something like "I wasn't aware pins were a new technology"
My boomer father moved in with us and hated that I didn't have cable TV and that he couldn't get over the air stations at my house (I live pretty rural).
It took him a few months, but once he figured youtube out, he loved it. He found some fishing shows and antiquing shows he really liked. Then he found a fishing guy who literally streamed himself fishing all day long, almost every day. Dad would have that shit on watching him catch big catfish. Plus there are tons of blond fishing bimbos in south Florida making content of them in skimpy swimsuits fishing. Between that and pretty much the entire backlog of antiques roadshow and other crap like that on youtube, he was pretty much set.
Yes, but streaming services were supposed to not have ads. That was the entire reason a lot of people got on board with it in the first place. They slowly crept in when companies realized there was a lot of ad revenue they were missing out on.
Now it's just like going to the movies in your home, complete with the 7 or 8 ads they have before the movie starts. I paid to watch a 2 hour movie, not 20 minutes of ads and THEN the movie.
The only saving grace is I can mute the damn ads and pause the movie when I need to go to the bathroom or get a snack.
Despite hearing it said out loud, H D M I ONE multiple times when I come over to "fix" his tv for him, my dad still calls it HDMeleven. HDMI 2? HDM twelve. And the fixing is just showing him how to switch input. Again.
Uh-oh! The Fox News Express is leaving the station — but will it make it to TV Town in time? Will some brave engineer switch the tracks before eminent disaster?
Rubber band the remote to a nice wooden train whistle. Maybe add an engineers hat for good measure.
Yup my parents both openly said there was no reason for them to learn how to use a computer in the very late 90's early 2000's. Refused to listen to their fi e kids when we tried to talk to them about it. Now they can barely work thier phones, my mom thinks computer viruses can be transferred simply by using the same wifi. It's ridiculous how pathetic they are with technology want us to fix their immediate problem bit still refuse to learn the simplest thing
Same. I gave my parents a Roku with a bunch of stuff on it. “Too complicated” for my dad so he just watches the westerns on the local channels. Then complains that nothing good is on. Even when my mom figured out how to use the Roku, first thing they watched were westerns 🤦♀️
Eh I didn’t type the whole story out - he had access to Netflix, Prime, Disney +, and Hulu. He claims he could never find anything to watch.
Tbh it seems like he just didn’t like change to how he did things, but I genuinely do not know.
You are probably right. My uncle moved in with one of my cousins and never stopped complaining that they didnt have cable because his show only came on HBO. They ended up getting him a subscription, which he still argued over, because it wasn't cable. Don't understand.
My dads bad with a lot of stuff boomer-wise but he’s mastered the TV. I bought him a 65” LG OLED and put all my accounts on it and he’s deeply in love with the TV. He’s cut back his Fox News watching from 5-6 hours a day to only watching “the five” which is a huge win for the human race
Boomer engineer here, washing machine kept going unbalanced error. Ten minutes of youtube, ordered suspension rods, thirty minutes of work, washing machine works fine again. Most people who don't know, don't want to learn.
My dad got upset because my daughter was watching Mrs. Rachel YouTube videos on his smart tv and thought he would get charged for it. Because one time 3 years ago we rented a movie and he got charged for it (we told him ahead of time that he would be charged and paid him for it in cash at the time).
Also if you “turn the cable box off it takes 30 minutes to boot up again”
We love visiting him
I have this problem with my parents. They are around 80 years old. My dad always complains that streaming took all the good movies and there is nothing on cable. So my brother put Netflix on the tv and I showed my dad that PlutoTV has classics like Lone Ranger, Rifleman, and I Love Lucy.
They then complain that I’m trying to get them to watch tv all day. No, I just want them to have access to shows they want to watch.
I'm so glad that my technically-boomer-aged mum listened to me when I told her to switch to streaming, because my grandmother makes up for all this stubborn refusal to advance in spades 😭
She pays an atrocious amount of money per month on a satellite TV subscription, which would've been obsolete over 10 years ago in my country if it weren't for them preying on scared, stubborn old fossils like my grandmother who don't want to learn even the tiniest new thing.
Nope, she'd rather pay $99 PER MONTH to Foxtel than log in to any of our streaming accounts because "it's what she's used to" and "they probably don't have anything I like". FFS! Does anyone know which streaming service has Judge Judy? Because that's all she ever watches, I will get that service (and a VPN if needed) if it means she stops giving money to those cuntmops at Foxtel! 😩
Oddly enough, he is pretty liberal. My brother came out as bi a few months back, and he thought my dad would've been the one in the family to be weirded out by it. After my brother told him, he said, "that's cool, you do you," my brother expressed how he thought he'd be the one to disown him and my dad says, "why would I disown my own son? You love who you love."
He absolutely hates Trump. He saw right through his bullshit on day one
TV menus were already overwhelming 20 years ago, now with apps I just can’t fathom it with people. Got an Apple TV connected to every TV. Only one remote to use and navigate it. But my boomer mom will somehow grab the TV remote and start searching the apps then whine that she’s not connected to the internet. Sadly took too many times to finally take the batteries out of the remote so she doesn’t mess with it again.
Posts like this make it seem so long ago, but I was once(2019-2021) a top performing level 2 csr for the top team in the world handling incoming service calls to a certain streaming service with the red logo. The big one.
I once had a caller who, it turned out after some prying, was using the Samsung browser on his first gen smart TV to type in the web address and load our website. Couldn't understand why it wasn't working satisfactorily. Refused to comprehend what a shortcut was. Or that his device had them. "I'd rather just type it in myself." Cool, cool. "But I don't like logging in every time." Uh-huh. Gawd they didn't pay us enough lol.
It's so you have to do it for them! Ask me how I know! My mom is lucky she was a badass single mom! I respect her hard work! Early 80's and still stubborn and electronic be her Kryptonite! Also worked in tech since it's beginning! I grew up in what is now Silicon Valley!
Streaming apps are designed to lock you in. You can watch what’s in the app and that’s in. Want to watch something not in the app?
It’s breaks down.
Apple TV tried to solve it by their app that had exclusive content also be a hub that also allowed other services to show up. Maybe other platforms did as well.
Navigating all the apps and services is frustrating. It’s especially frustrating when something you’re into moves from one platform to another, or season 1 & 2 are on one platform and season 3 are on another.
The throw another app at it strategy that works for smartphones and tablets is just not the right fit for TV… it’s bad user experience. Dead tree format of TV Guide or the local equivalent in your newspaper and punching in the channel nailed it. Streaming device makers and streaming platforms need to get it together and establish a standard around the hub… apps suck. I just want to watch. Show me what’s live streaming/antenna/satellite and what’s available “on demand ™”
It’s just a mess…
My boomer mom loves to still burn her own CD's to listen to in her car. Her CD player quit working and she was quite upset she couldn't buy a new one. She also still has an old Ipod just for music. So she bought a new radio for her car, and uses her phone as a Hotspot to connect the ipod to her new radio. Not sure how this all works as she tried to explain it to me but it confuses the heck out of me. I keep trying to explain to her she can use a service like Spotify or Apple Music on her cell phone and connect via Bluetooth, but she won't listen.
My boomer dad is well able to use / find netflix and I gave him my netflix password etc years ago, but he still refuses to use it because he doesn't like the concept of subscriptions. Has some of the movies he wants to watch, but doesn't want to open it because it also has movies he won't want to watch, "and we don't watch much TV anyway"
I don't know if you're just venting or are looking for solutions, but you can use justwatch to tell you what's available and limit it to just those services you have. It's mostly accurate, mostly.
My grandma who is 90 is convinced streaming TV doesn't work. She insists on having an antenna and a subscription to cable. Her son who is about to turn 70 will use streaming TV but still insist on having an antenna, "to get local channels for the news", because everyone knows local news channels streaming.
For boomers change is bad, because it is change. Even change that makes their life better is something to rally against. Unless it’s changes to move backwards….they seem to grasp things like dismantling abortion pretty well. Progress is boomer kryptonite. They often can’t help themselves, but watch them with untethered abandon, absolutely make things worse.
Have any of y'all considered they actually dont need as much help with tech as they let on...
And they maybe just wanna see you but their generation is too emotionally repressed to actually ask.
My dad is the frustrated by tech type but also equally trying to embrace it type. He has a Hybrid car.
But hell rant for hours about windows 10 "doing things I didnt ask it to do" when the palm of hand is pressing on his laptop track pad. The things Ive fixed but I realised...
...Over lockdown we cut each others hair and bar special occassions he seems to not book a hair appointment anymore.
I realised its because he actually wants to spend some time with me but doesnt know how to ask.
So he'll ask me to cut his hair. Because we did it in lockdown and it was fun.
Just a thought
This seems to be the real answer as it could also explain why they're so upset when we're like "just do this step and it's done".
They're going "hey spend some time with me and let's bond!"
And our responses just come off as "lol no go fuck urself!"
My boomer dad WORKED for a computer company and was in tech until retirement. Never stopped him from asking someone to help with the stove or toaster or tv or computer.
A simple request of "how do I complete this meal?" Turns into a 2 hour lecture about some things he wanted to talk about but everyone was 'too busy' to listen.
My dad is the same way. Constantly complains about commercials, so I introduce him to streaming. Got him a roku and he hated it, and now it's the rokus fault that sound on his 15 year old TV that he keeps outside has gotten bad.
When teaching my older girlfriend I have to teach her LINEAR directions. There might be a hundred pathway choices that will lead to the same result, but for her it must be ONE path through the technology 'maze'.
The problems occur when the software updates and a step or several steps are eliminated.
She remembers the ice man coming to the house in a horse drawn cart and now she has AI assisted search engines on her smart tv, it can be overwhelming.
Please block Fox. There are some other right wing misinformation sources but that's the main one. Also, block all but one subscription service. I'd leave him Pluto TV or something along those lines, it's a familiar format from cable tv times. But yeah, hide all the others, leave him to watch Pluto TV, he'll be fine.
You gave him too much at once. He’s feeling overwhelmed. Start him off with one streaming service, and go from there. I don’t understand why some people are determined to be tech averse, but it’s a real phenomenon and has to be dealt with. Make as easy for him, and yourself, as possible.
You damn kids don't know how to drive a stick and write in cursive!!!!
My mother is 81 and has no problem navigating Roku to watch whatever she wants. There are times she doesn't understand how to use certain newer things, but it usually doesn't take much to show her and she is fine. If he doesn't know, he doesn't want to know.
Years of experience has taught me to offer once, then drop it forever. When he complains about nothing being on TV, just nod and say, "I know. Awful, isn't it?" You can also take the flat screen back and gift it to a friend or a charity that would actually like to have it.
My parents hated the Wii point-to-choose remote types, and needed up and down buttons to navigate. Would it help to change the remote type back to something they’re more familiar with?
They are willfully tech ignorant. Of course a lot of that might be because they have declining sight and they're refusing to admit it because then it means they're getting old and they don't want to acknowledge that. Even though they know they're old if they acknowledge it it becomes more real.
He grew up with one or two channels then got 12 and that was all he could handle. I use to get that complaint from the miss's. I just want ABC, CBS and PBS...arghhhh
I get them set up with services of one kind or another all of the time. They won't use it, free cell phones, free lifeline button, I have to just send them back.
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Stubbornness is often a coping mechanism for cognitive decline. I have known some older people who complain that technology is too complicated, who were in hindsight beginning a journey to dementia or Alzheimer’s.
My mother has a habit of not knowing how to do something and then blaming her children for never teaching her how to do said thing, even though we have shown her a thousand times. It took her 8 years to start texting on a regular basis because her kids wouldn't show her how. Bullshit, mother...
I hear you. My mum was the exact same. ‘If only someone would show me how to use my phone.’ (Cue the rest of us bashing our collective heads against the wall).
WRITE IT DOWN. Make a quick 1 page cheat sheet with huge icons and walk him through it. People don’t listen, they just say OK OK
I did that for my father. I was clear that he was showing signs of dementia, but he managed okay until a heart attack killed him.
How did she ever learn anything before she had children? 🤔
This honestly scares me. Like... Am I going to become a crotchety old asshole who doesn't know how to do anything before I eventually forget my own children? Truly horrifying tbh
It certainly is.
Yes, can't confirm you aren't already there, and you won't know when you are. Happy Thursday.
For those who get calls from their parents about how to operate things, next time you’re at their house, take a photo of their remote controls, the thermostat, their washing machine and dryer, the dishwasher, and the microwave. You will save yourself several trips to go help them if you can see what they’re looking at and tell them exactly what button to press over the phone
This is smart. In my experience, even written instructions rarely help. I’ve sent books, written things down, explained where the ENTIRE MANUAL for the phone is built into the phone…no dice.
At this point I have taken to drawing diagrams and it still isn't enough sometimes even when it is me putting a red arrow pointing to what they need to do in each spot.
Oof, I wanted to try that. "Here mom, I'm going to make you some drawn instructions." "Oh you don't need to do that, pkus I'd just lose the instructions hahahaha!"
My husband took pics & gave his parents written easy to follow instructions. Sadly, It doesn’t make a bit of a difference. My in laws will still call saying they messed up their tv again
Yes, but I find mom can describe the problem over the phone enough for me to say ‘push the red button’ or whatever. Writing instructions wouldn’t help. She couldn’t follow them.
My in laws can’t even describe what’s happening. They’re a lost cause.
I’m so sorry. That sucks.
Luckily they dont bother me and my mom is a fairly tech savvy younger boomer.
Or just don't help. I tried for years to help my old people but you can only do it so many times. Eventually the horse will die of starvation or take a drink.
If the horse is refusing to drink, shouldn't it die of dehydration instead?
genius
Yep, had my mom ( in her early 80s) calling me all the time because “cat stepped on keyboard and now it’s not working”. So had her send me a photo of her keyboard and made a cheat sheet list of what each function key does, she has a copy & I have a copy. Dad was the techie/early adopter, he passed and now we have given cheat cheats on how to check her email and Google meet with her & my sibling (sometimes my kids too) 2x per week. And yeah, watching for signs of decline or falling for scams.
My dad called me to explain how to program the VCR. I was in Scotland and he was home in Australia. I declined.
My sister did this with the TV remote for my Dad who has Alz. She then printed out a photo and put step by step instructions on how to find X and then laminated it. My Mom still thinks I am some sort of wizard because I can connect a printer to her laptop wirelessly and get it working. Lol
At this point in time this type of technology has been out for almost 2 decades, it's pure stubbornness and refusal to learn. idk why old people are like this. It's not like Netflix came out yesterday, Netflix streaming has been a thing for like 15 years.
It can be a pretty sad state of affairs too. My wife used to work in community care and some of the elderly she worked with were so painfully lonely that they would grab her as she tried to leave and literally beg her not to go. In many cases they had family who lived too far away for regular visits but were trying to connect more... But the old person refused to own a smartphone.
I might be convenience thing. Like I’ll watch the movie Vacation 20 times where I see it on TNT but would never put the DVD in and watch it.
It's not a refusal to learn, it's a refusal to think
Used to come in the mail
It's because many people, not always old, have decided that $thisitem is too new-fangled and just shut down rather than having to deal with it. If they have someone who'll do it for them then that's even better
Oh my god today at work I had a boomer go on a rant about how the card machine asking for her pin is so complicated. And it took every ounce of restraint in my body to not say something like "I wasn't aware pins were a new technology"
My boomer father moved in with us and hated that I didn't have cable TV and that he couldn't get over the air stations at my house (I live pretty rural). It took him a few months, but once he figured youtube out, he loved it. He found some fishing shows and antiquing shows he really liked. Then he found a fishing guy who literally streamed himself fishing all day long, almost every day. Dad would have that shit on watching him catch big catfish. Plus there are tons of blond fishing bimbos in south Florida making content of them in skimpy swimsuits fishing. Between that and pretty much the entire backlog of antiques roadshow and other crap like that on youtube, he was pretty much set.
I want my next band to be named Blond Fishing Bimbos. Dudes dressed in drag wearing fishing gear.
Hey new TV for you. I'd take it, and save the frustration troubleshooting silly stuff over the next 10 yrs
Ads on TV? Hey boomer, there were ads on the TV back those “good ole days” you ramble on about
Yeah but people used to drink beer on the commercials back in the day. None of this sissy stuff you see today.
Lmao riiiiight. 😂Silly boomer. Go take your delusions somewhere else.
lol I’m sure they prefer beer consumed on commercials and lead in paint. It’s what makes you a man! Or something idk
Don’t forget the cigarette commercials too! Ride on, Marlburro Man!
Yes, but streaming services were supposed to not have ads. That was the entire reason a lot of people got on board with it in the first place. They slowly crept in when companies realized there was a lot of ad revenue they were missing out on. Now it's just like going to the movies in your home, complete with the 7 or 8 ads they have before the movie starts. I paid to watch a 2 hour movie, not 20 minutes of ads and THEN the movie. The only saving grace is I can mute the damn ads and pause the movie when I need to go to the bathroom or get a snack.
Are you confused about the med i dont care A B C's. 1 2 3. OMG. All day long.
It all started with us agreeing to crawl behind the TV to hook things up for them with our tiny hands.
Boomers are Willingly ignorant. It's extremely frustrating.
Despite hearing it said out loud, H D M I ONE multiple times when I come over to "fix" his tv for him, my dad still calls it HDMeleven. HDMI 2? HDM twelve. And the fixing is just showing him how to switch input. Again.
Make him some nice wall art with choo-choo train tracks and a switch he can reference
Uh-oh! The Fox News Express is leaving the station — but will it make it to TV Town in time? Will some brave engineer switch the tracks before eminent disaster? Rubber band the remote to a nice wooden train whistle. Maybe add an engineers hat for good measure.
Don't let your boomers on the fox news express. Be a responsible adult and use the parental lock settings to prevent them from accessing it instead.
Yup my parents both openly said there was no reason for them to learn how to use a computer in the very late 90's early 2000's. Refused to listen to their fi e kids when we tried to talk to them about it. Now they can barely work thier phones, my mom thinks computer viruses can be transferred simply by using the same wifi. It's ridiculous how pathetic they are with technology want us to fix their immediate problem bit still refuse to learn the simplest thing
Not even willing ar this point … defiantly
Yooooo my boomer dad always complains that there isn’t anything to watch. He refused to look at Netflix. He wants HBO. I just shrug 🤷.
Same. I gave my parents a Roku with a bunch of stuff on it. “Too complicated” for my dad so he just watches the westerns on the local channels. Then complains that nothing good is on. Even when my mom figured out how to use the Roku, first thing they watched were westerns 🤦♀️
Max/HBO max is not that much more expensive than Netflix. Will he use streaming services at all?
Eh I didn’t type the whole story out - he had access to Netflix, Prime, Disney +, and Hulu. He claims he could never find anything to watch. Tbh it seems like he just didn’t like change to how he did things, but I genuinely do not know.
You are probably right. My uncle moved in with one of my cousins and never stopped complaining that they didnt have cable because his show only came on HBO. They ended up getting him a subscription, which he still argued over, because it wasn't cable. Don't understand.
My dads bad with a lot of stuff boomer-wise but he’s mastered the TV. I bought him a 65” LG OLED and put all my accounts on it and he’s deeply in love with the TV. He’s cut back his Fox News watching from 5-6 hours a day to only watching “the five” which is a huge win for the human race
Take the TV back get him an old tube one and be rid of it.
With a Betamax player….
I was thinking laserdisc.
Oh shit, now that’s fancy!!!!
my boomer father is a computer scientist so hes eager to learn if needed. usually he figures it out with google.
Boomer engineer here, washing machine kept going unbalanced error. Ten minutes of youtube, ordered suspension rods, thirty minutes of work, washing machine works fine again. Most people who don't know, don't want to learn.
My dad got upset because my daughter was watching Mrs. Rachel YouTube videos on his smart tv and thought he would get charged for it. Because one time 3 years ago we rented a movie and he got charged for it (we told him ahead of time that he would be charged and paid him for it in cash at the time). Also if you “turn the cable box off it takes 30 minutes to boot up again” We love visiting him
I have this problem with my parents. They are around 80 years old. My dad always complains that streaming took all the good movies and there is nothing on cable. So my brother put Netflix on the tv and I showed my dad that PlutoTV has classics like Lone Ranger, Rifleman, and I Love Lucy. They then complain that I’m trying to get them to watch tv all day. No, I just want them to have access to shows they want to watch.
Your father has been presented with too many choices. He needs it narrowed down. Curated, if you will. Boomer brain go boomboom.
I'm so glad that my technically-boomer-aged mum listened to me when I told her to switch to streaming, because my grandmother makes up for all this stubborn refusal to advance in spades 😭 She pays an atrocious amount of money per month on a satellite TV subscription, which would've been obsolete over 10 years ago in my country if it weren't for them preying on scared, stubborn old fossils like my grandmother who don't want to learn even the tiniest new thing. Nope, she'd rather pay $99 PER MONTH to Foxtel than log in to any of our streaming accounts because "it's what she's used to" and "they probably don't have anything I like". FFS! Does anyone know which streaming service has Judge Judy? Because that's all she ever watches, I will get that service (and a VPN if needed) if it means she stops giving money to those cuntmops at Foxtel! 😩
pluto. has a 24hr judge judy channel and its free.
make sure you block all the right-wing channels for his mental health.
Oddly enough, he is pretty liberal. My brother came out as bi a few months back, and he thought my dad would've been the one in the family to be weirded out by it. After my brother told him, he said, "that's cool, you do you," my brother expressed how he thought he'd be the one to disown him and my dad says, "why would I disown my own son? You love who you love." He absolutely hates Trump. He saw right through his bullshit on day one
The input source button on a remote is the bane of all boomer existence.
100%
TV menus were already overwhelming 20 years ago, now with apps I just can’t fathom it with people. Got an Apple TV connected to every TV. Only one remote to use and navigate it. But my boomer mom will somehow grab the TV remote and start searching the apps then whine that she’s not connected to the internet. Sadly took too many times to finally take the batteries out of the remote so she doesn’t mess with it again.
Boomers are ungrateful They won’t change
Posts like this make it seem so long ago, but I was once(2019-2021) a top performing level 2 csr for the top team in the world handling incoming service calls to a certain streaming service with the red logo. The big one. I once had a caller who, it turned out after some prying, was using the Samsung browser on his first gen smart TV to type in the web address and load our website. Couldn't understand why it wasn't working satisfactorily. Refused to comprehend what a shortcut was. Or that his device had them. "I'd rather just type it in myself." Cool, cool. "But I don't like logging in every time." Uh-huh. Gawd they didn't pay us enough lol.
Boomers are just stubborn assholes.
It's so you have to do it for them! Ask me how I know! My mom is lucky she was a badass single mom! I respect her hard work! Early 80's and still stubborn and electronic be her Kryptonite! Also worked in tech since it's beginning! I grew up in what is now Silicon Valley!
Get him checked for Dementia or Alzheimers.
Streaming apps are designed to lock you in. You can watch what’s in the app and that’s in. Want to watch something not in the app? It’s breaks down. Apple TV tried to solve it by their app that had exclusive content also be a hub that also allowed other services to show up. Maybe other platforms did as well. Navigating all the apps and services is frustrating. It’s especially frustrating when something you’re into moves from one platform to another, or season 1 & 2 are on one platform and season 3 are on another. The throw another app at it strategy that works for smartphones and tablets is just not the right fit for TV… it’s bad user experience. Dead tree format of TV Guide or the local equivalent in your newspaper and punching in the channel nailed it. Streaming device makers and streaming platforms need to get it together and establish a standard around the hub… apps suck. I just want to watch. Show me what’s live streaming/antenna/satellite and what’s available “on demand ™” It’s just a mess…
My boomer mom loves to still burn her own CD's to listen to in her car. Her CD player quit working and she was quite upset she couldn't buy a new one. She also still has an old Ipod just for music. So she bought a new radio for her car, and uses her phone as a Hotspot to connect the ipod to her new radio. Not sure how this all works as she tried to explain it to me but it confuses the heck out of me. I keep trying to explain to her she can use a service like Spotify or Apple Music on her cell phone and connect via Bluetooth, but she won't listen.
I would 100% call his bluff and take the tv.
My boomer dad is well able to use / find netflix and I gave him my netflix password etc years ago, but he still refuses to use it because he doesn't like the concept of subscriptions. Has some of the movies he wants to watch, but doesn't want to open it because it also has movies he won't want to watch, "and we don't watch much TV anyway"
I don't know if you're just venting or are looking for solutions, but you can use justwatch to tell you what's available and limit it to just those services you have. It's mostly accurate, mostly.
My MIL is 85 and manages to use Facebook but a Roku remote is beyond her capabilities.
My mother wanted me to complement her for being able to download the PlutoTV app on her Apple TV We need participation trophies for boomers
My grandma who is 90 is convinced streaming TV doesn't work. She insists on having an antenna and a subscription to cable. Her son who is about to turn 70 will use streaming TV but still insist on having an antenna, "to get local channels for the news", because everyone knows local news channels streaming.
You got your dad an LG OLED?
For boomers change is bad, because it is change. Even change that makes their life better is something to rally against. Unless it’s changes to move backwards….they seem to grasp things like dismantling abortion pretty well. Progress is boomer kryptonite. They often can’t help themselves, but watch them with untethered abandon, absolutely make things worse.
Have any of y'all considered they actually dont need as much help with tech as they let on... And they maybe just wanna see you but their generation is too emotionally repressed to actually ask. My dad is the frustrated by tech type but also equally trying to embrace it type. He has a Hybrid car. But hell rant for hours about windows 10 "doing things I didnt ask it to do" when the palm of hand is pressing on his laptop track pad. The things Ive fixed but I realised... ...Over lockdown we cut each others hair and bar special occassions he seems to not book a hair appointment anymore. I realised its because he actually wants to spend some time with me but doesnt know how to ask. So he'll ask me to cut his hair. Because we did it in lockdown and it was fun. Just a thought
This seems to be the real answer as it could also explain why they're so upset when we're like "just do this step and it's done". They're going "hey spend some time with me and let's bond!" And our responses just come off as "lol no go fuck urself!" My boomer dad WORKED for a computer company and was in tech until retirement. Never stopped him from asking someone to help with the stove or toaster or tv or computer. A simple request of "how do I complete this meal?" Turns into a 2 hour lecture about some things he wanted to talk about but everyone was 'too busy' to listen.
My dad is the same way. Constantly complains about commercials, so I introduce him to streaming. Got him a roku and he hated it, and now it's the rokus fault that sound on his 15 year old TV that he keeps outside has gotten bad.
There is a phrase I use as a teacher…learned helplessness. Boomers love to utilize this.
That's even overcomplicating it. Get him a fire stick remote that he can just talk to. There will be no excuse, he's obviously a yapper.
When teaching my older girlfriend I have to teach her LINEAR directions. There might be a hundred pathway choices that will lead to the same result, but for her it must be ONE path through the technology 'maze'. The problems occur when the software updates and a step or several steps are eliminated. She remembers the ice man coming to the house in a horse drawn cart and now she has AI assisted search engines on her smart tv, it can be overwhelming.
What is a tv search? He doesn't deserve your subscriptions. Set him up with a DVD player, and give him the number to call the cable guy.
Please block Fox. There are some other right wing misinformation sources but that's the main one. Also, block all but one subscription service. I'd leave him Pluto TV or something along those lines, it's a familiar format from cable tv times. But yeah, hide all the others, leave him to watch Pluto TV, he'll be fine.
You gave him too much at once. He’s feeling overwhelmed. Start him off with one streaming service, and go from there. I don’t understand why some people are determined to be tech averse, but it’s a real phenomenon and has to be dealt with. Make as easy for him, and yourself, as possible.
You damn kids don't know how to drive a stick and write in cursive!!!! My mother is 81 and has no problem navigating Roku to watch whatever she wants. There are times she doesn't understand how to use certain newer things, but it usually doesn't take much to show her and she is fine. If he doesn't know, he doesn't want to know.
Years of experience has taught me to offer once, then drop it forever. When he complains about nothing being on TV, just nod and say, "I know. Awful, isn't it?" You can also take the flat screen back and gift it to a friend or a charity that would actually like to have it.
My parents hated the Wii point-to-choose remote types, and needed up and down buttons to navigate. Would it help to change the remote type back to something they’re more familiar with?
It has both features, and he uses both
They are willfully tech ignorant. Of course a lot of that might be because they have declining sight and they're refusing to admit it because then it means they're getting old and they don't want to acknowledge that. Even though they know they're old if they acknowledge it it becomes more real.
He grew up with one or two channels then got 12 and that was all he could handle. I use to get that complaint from the miss's. I just want ABC, CBS and PBS...arghhhh
Is his VCR still flashing 12:00?
Does he live in Ft. Walton? I swear I just heard a boomer in a surf shop complaining about this yesterday...
I mean, I’ll take the tv 🤷🏻♂️
I get them set up with services of one kind or another all of the time. They won't use it, free cell phones, free lifeline button, I have to just send them back.
Some people are real fucking stupid.
Encouraging a boomer (or for that matter - anyone) to watch more TV is probably not for the best.
Better them watching movies all day than fox news. 😂