Grandma’s on Facebook!

I do "tech support" from time to time to various people.  I have a Computer Science degree and worked in the software development industry prior to having children which means that while there are many, many things I don't know, I do know enough to help at times.

Not all tech support is fun.   For someone who works in the field, it's a lot of "not fun" because you have customers calling who are upset things aren't working.  You have to fix their problem while being subjected to what are largely not happy people.   The support I do is to family members and friends and is all elective.   It's nicer that way because I've chosen to help and even want to help.   There is no obligation.

It's nice to be able to help someone and they are always appreciative.   That doesn't always make the support fun, but it's not a drudgery either.  This weekend, however, I got to do some fun tech support.

My mother had noticed when my aunt visited last that she was playing solitaire with a deck of cards and had thought it might be fun for Aunt Martha to have a computer or tablet she could play solitaire and other games on.   My mother asked my husband and me about it and through a series of conversations back and forth with us considering and then throwing out ideas, we came to the decision to go with an iPad.

This decision was largely due in part because we had an old iPad we weren't using anymore.   When Aunt Martha came to town we told her of our plan and she was excited.   But were we sure?   Didn't we need the iPad?   We assured her it wasn't a new model and that our technology-heavy family wasn't going to go without an iPad as a result.

Then the fun began.  Aunt Martha has an iPhone, so an iPad was convenient.  When we got it configured her pictures (she loves taking pictures on her phone) all appeared on her iPad and could be viewed in much larger form.   We configured Skype and Facetime and got her email going.

I installed weather and map apps and showed her how text messages showed up on her iPad as well as her phone.   We looked at how Gmail worked and she sent and received emails to my mother and me.  She had never had email set up on her phone before.  And this was all fun.  It was fun to me and fun to her because it was new things to do.

And of course, there were the games.   We found games that didn't need to be connected to the internet because she doesn't have WiFi at home.   Would she be interested in WiFi at some point if she really enjoys the iPad?   Possibly, she said, but for now this was enough new to learn.  I was impressed with Aunt Martha.   She was so receptive to the new things and she was quick to pick up on them.

And everything was free.   I explained how companies made money from advertisement revenue similar to how magazines and television shows do.   Companies also, I told her, make money in some cases by giving you a "try and buy" version of a game that's less functionality than the full game and yet can still be lots of fun.   We talked about Micro-Transactions and how the vast majority of money that game developers make is from in-game purchases.  And that that huge portion of the money comes from about three percent of the game players.   And that means the rest of us can enjoy the game for free.

I had one more thing to do though before she left.  I wasn't sure what she'd think about it though.   I asked her if she wanted to be on Facebook?   She is my father's sister and I'm friends with her children and some of their children.   Facebook was not only free, but you also didn't have to ever post on it.   You could sign up and just see what friends and family were posting.

She said sure and while she took some luggage to the car I got her signed up.   When she got back she scrolled through the list of people Facebook wanted to know if she wanted to be friends with based on her contacts (and other Facebook data mining algorithms).   She sent a friends request to lots of people.

By the time we completed inviting people she was already getting notifications people were accepting the invites and posting something.   It was exciting times.  We looked at her feed and one of her grandchildren had sent a big message saying, "Grandma's on Facebook!"

I told Aunt Martha I was going to be checking in with her over the next week or so, making sure everything is going well and answering any questions she might have.   Some tech support is fun.   This was the best kind, in my opinion.

The Big Boy Update:  My son is going to see his psychiatrist tomorrow for the required six-month check.   My son said everything is going well with the Adderall when I asked him tonight.   He even said, "It's helping me with my Mystery History research project."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter is going to see an infectious disease specialist tomorrow for her recurring bladder infections.   She has one again I think now or did a few days ago before I put her back on the antibiotic.   I really hope we can get some answers.