Parents Just Don't Understand

Do your parents not understand technology? Do they ask you stupid questions? Do they send you absurd text messages? Do they use words like "MyFace,""SpaceBook,"or "The World Wide Web?"

Your parents' Ask.com

My dad asked me if my laptop had some sort of back-up that allowed it to run even when the power was out. He then declared he should get something similar for the family desktop.
Holly Hood

My mom bought an iPhone, but returned it because, "every time you touch the screen, it does something."
Pete T, Purdue

My mom got really frustrated when she typed louisianaemployment.com into the Firefox address bar and it came up with "Page Not Found." I hesitantly offered that it wasn't the address and maybe she should Google it. She screamed, "I thought that's what I was doing!"
Christine S

My grandpa's friend has a cell phone which he doesn't answer. This is because it's kept in two pockets. The phone in one, the battery in the other. Both separately wrapped in aluminum foil. This is so the government can't find him. In his wallet, his credit card is also wrapped in foil.
Shaun Hautly, Valparaiso University

Earlier this week I emailed my parents a copy of a cover letter for a job I wanted to apply for so they could look it over and proofread. Yesterday my mom joined Facebook. Her first action? To post the cover letter corrections in a comment on one of my status updates from a week and a half ago.
L A

Every time my grandfather puts a CD in the player in his truck, he says "swallow!" He thinks you have to say that to make the CD go in.
Leah Valdez, UT San Antonio

My Dad used to be a car mechanic in his heyday, so he likes taking things apart just to put them back together again... You shouldn't do this to a car unless you know how, and the same rule applies to computers, but I don't think he got the memo so whenever an e-mail doesn't send or the (dial-up) internet won't connect he takes everything apart to "start from scratch". This usually ends up in him getting another new (read: 3rd hand and from the mid-90's) computer so he can try again. Every time he get's a new computer he gets a new e-mail address because "the mail from the old account goes to the old computer and I don't use it anymore." To solve this I bought him a brand new MAC so it would be virtually impossible for him to screw it up, but he won't use it because he "wants to master the windows computers before moving onto something new."
Peter Brown, Vancouver Film School

A friend of mine works for an internet provider. A man came into his office one day and said, "I'd like to buy the Internet, please." My friend kind of rolled his eyes, but he was used to that, so he started signing him up. The man then asked, "I heard the Internet goes out sometimes, is that true?" My friend responded, "There are times you could temporarily lose service for various reasons, yeah." The man responded, "Then I'll buy two Internets, in case one goes out."
Brady Spenrath, University of Texas at Dallas

I was talking to my mom on AIM and told her I was going to get a snack and when I came back I noticed she had tried to ask my auto reply where I had gone and who was at the computer talking to her.
Louis Ellis

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