Friday, April 20, 2007
KIDS & TECHNOLOGY
Lucky are those with kids in the house. Whenever daunted by the task of reading the manual that comes, say, with a recently-purchased high tech cell phone, just hand it over to one of your kids and he’ll have it figured out in no time at all. That’s what I did when I got a new Nokia a couple of years ago. With my nephew’s coaching, I began enjoying its features sooner than had I studied the manual on my own.
It was another nephew who taught me how to put an end to those unsolicited messages, which were nothing more than marketing messages from my carrier that also eat up my load. There were times I had to quickly find a spot on a busy roadway to park my car (thinking I had just received an urgent SMS message) but only to discover it was merely Smart hawking a new service or product. Oh, well, certainly with convenience comes nuisance as well.
The ease of communication nowadays is really staggering, especially when compared during my youth. It used to be when PLDT took ages to hook up a household with a regular telephone line. These days, the demand for a landline has slipped drastically because of the availability and affordability of cell phones.
I am not one to upgrade to a newer model of cell phone every year, but if I ever needed to get a new one anytime soon, rest assured, I'll be asking the kids in the family first for their opinion. Darn, when I was a kid, the most high tech gadget I had was a Sony transistor radio with a leather case and strap. But that's altogether another story for another day.
Have a good weekend!
posted by Señor Enrique at 6:17 AM
34 Comments:
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houseband00 said... I am so with you there, Eric.
When I was younger, my grandfather would call on me to help him understand the workings of whatever new-fangled piece of audio equipment he brought home from the states. Back in the 80s, he bought himself a brand new device called a cd player and he wondered if he could still integrate it with his existing setup. Since our family lived practically a few houses away from them, I was called upon to hook it up.
These days naman, D is the one teaching me the intricacies of the Playstation2 and its accessories.
Tumatanda na rin ako. =)-
Gita Asuncion said...
hi. i like your blog so much... i hope you dont mind that i linked you. anyhow, yea, i get what you mean in your latest post. i wish id get the chance to take a shot of my 6 yr old niece showing my 77 year old mom how the cellfone works. nakakaaliw... :-)
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Señor Enrique said...
Isn't it something, hb00?
Playstations, cell phones, remote controls for hi-fi entertainment systems, and etc., all seem to be designed for kids to naturally tinker with but for adults to purchase.
And just wait til the Apple iPhone comes out in Manila; I'm sure D will have yours up running (intuitively, and no resorting to the manual) before anyone else ... hehehe.-
Señor Enrique said...
The precious "decisive moment" is what they call it, Gita. I wish you had taken a photo of your niece and your mom; that would've been priceless!
Thanks, sure! I'll be checking out your site, too :)-
Gita Asuncion said...
oh you did drop by my site! thanks, i really am glad you did. keep in touch and more power! have a nice day!
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said... yes, senor, that is why in my household, i am pampered in terms of "technology". when computer breaks down, when there is a software i do not understand, wordpress problem, etc. i always run to the kids. what are the 7 kids there for, if not to help mama make her tasks easier.
i like the photo, particularly the lamp at the back!-
said...
I bet kids are really good at this because of lots of time playing with toys and somehow, these modern gadgets are just like toys themselves. I once had a cousin that in our childhood years, he was known to be one who loves to dismantle things and then put it back just like before, even radios.
We have a chavacano word or taunt for kids who do this, and we call them bungcanero (instead of mekaniko), from the root word 'bungca', to destroy.-
said...
I don't have patience with reading manuals too. I just tinker with gadgets - trial and error - and if it works, that does it! But when there's something I can't really figure out, SuperGem is always on the rescue. :)
However there are times when my kids refuse to help me. "Ma, you have to learn!" OMG! My kids telling me that! And to think I taught them ABCs and 123s! *Sigh!*
Are those boys your nephews, Eric?-
Señor Enrique said...
Nice blog you have, Gita. Hopefully, my other fellow bloggers will visit it as well. I enjoyed your pictures, too!
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Señor Enrique said...
Hi Dine!
You came up in our conversation during lunch today! I finally met with Corsarius and Ia today. They were thrilled to have landed writing jobs with your son Angelo's company :)
I can imagine how fortunate you are, Dine, for having those tech savvy kids in your home.-
Señor Enrique said...
I have a brother who could be called a "bungcanero," Major Tom. He favored dismantling my battery-operated toys and then putting them back together. Boy, was I glad he could put them back; otherwise, I was afraid my father might think I was the one who destroyed my own toys.
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Señor Enrique said...
Ang lupit naman ng mga bata na 'yan! hehehe! Thank God for Super Gem!
This picture was taken early last Sunday morning at Baywalk, Rhoda, when we went there for the Dragon Boat race. The sun was just coming up but the place was already teeming with people. These two boys were with their families and enjoyed being photographed by me and by other photographers who were there for the racing event.-
Gita Asuncion said...
thanks for the compliment. im really working hard at my blog which is barely 2 weeks old. having fun really. just enjoying.
keep in touch! and thanks again.-
Ai Dihayco said...
That's what I miz when I was in Pinas.. i received so much text everyday..that inspires sometimes but most of the time nakaka-inis. Here, people are not sms addicts..they were amazed when they saw me txting without watching the keyboard of my celfon:-) well, i came from the txting capital of the world, you know!(parang si pacquaio).
I like your site and your pics. It makes me miz home yet..parang nadyan narin ako.
Would u mind if I add u to my links?
Kudos!-
JMom said...
omg, you are so right. I just learned to text last Dec. while we were there, and I had to be tutored by my kids! I still hate texting though, and prefer emails instead. I can't get used to text speak beyond omg and lol. haha! :D
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Señor Enrique said...
Hi Gita!
Visit the blogs of my readers and leave comments there as well so they'd get to know you. Before you know it, you'll have a fun group of regular visitors :)
Cheers!
Eric-
Señor Enrique said...
Hi A!
I'm not so good at texting and thereby not have many txtmates other than a few relatives and friends. I admire those who are highly skilled with the cellphone's keyboard and those with tireless, swift fingers.
Sure and thanks! I've bookmarked your site, too :)-
Señor Enrique said...
Lol ... that's funny, JMom!
Here in Pinas, if you wish to remain in touch, you have got to learn how to send and receive SMS messages :) Without this, you are out of the loop!
But I find myself sticking to correct spelling and grammar. Nonetheless, some folks ask me to learn to abbreviate because they find it too exhausting to read my messages daw. Huh? Only in Pinas!-
said...
Thanks to text messaging pinoys all over the world are justa text away from their love ones. Even seaman who used to wait for months for letters/tape from home to arrive can now communicate real time with thier family while on the middle of the ocean.
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kyels said...
Kids these days are really lucky. When I was still young I never had the luxury of getting a handphone or even those fancy schmancy gadgets.
But well, things evolve and so does parents and their children.
(:-
HiPnCooLMoMMa said...
you're not alone...i go to my kids too if i have "tech" problems...i even ask for their opinion which ones to buy =) looks like they are even more updated than their parents...huhuhu...
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said...
Funny, my dad's a retired engineer. He's 60 years old.
I'm 23, I.T. graduate, but he can setup an office network all by himself.
hehe.-
-= dave =- said...
If I'm not mistaken, the kids are sitting on the dinosaurs. Nice irony, hehe.
Hope when I'm a lolo I will know how to operate the teleportation device. Perhaps the spaceship computer will be more user-friendly by that time, hahaha!-
Señor Enrique said...
That is true, Anonymous - even if just to say a quick hello or I love you! But then again, I believe international voice calls are not that all that expensive nowadays, either :)
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Señor Enrique said...
Even their toys are incredibly high tech, Kyels. But I wonder how much is left for the imagination to play a part in it, ot is it just all about pushing buttons quicker than the others? Nonetheless, I'm sure it's a wondrous world for the kids with all these fine gadgets available.
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Señor Enrique said...
Lol ... welcome to the club, HipnCoolMomma! Without the kids, where are we adults going to be in this high tech world? Lol!
But all kidding aside, bless them for their intuitive feel for all these cutting edge technology!-
Señor Enrique said...
Well, Rick, not all dads are as tech savvy as your dad ... lol! But you're right! There's still a minority of adults out there who retain their inherent curiosity and ability to probe and put things together. They're born engineers!
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Señor Enrique said...
Very keen sense of observation, Dave! You've just won a ..... lol!
Yes! ironic or symbolic or what have you. High tech savvy kids on top of dinosaurs!
Bet computers will be thought-operated by then; no more keyboards and mice. Amazing, huh? But possible!-
sheilamarie said...
oh eric, i've got so many stories on my mom's bloopers with the cellphone. LOL! she was around 70 years old when i gave her a cellphone as a gift.
she brought it to smart (even though the line was globe) because it was spoiled na raw. and this happened a week after i first bought it.
yun pala, it got switched off after the battery expired, and she didn't know she had to turn it on again! LOL! she can recite a patient's history to you, but never the functions of any of the gadgets at home.
and now, 4 year old lucho knows how to operate the digi cam and the cam on the cellphone.
loved the pic =D-
Señor Enrique said...
And this is why nowadays the kids are endeared even more to the grandparents because they make a good partnership. With your mom, Lucho would make a great companion :)
Isn't that something? Only 4 years old yet, quite savvy already with high tech stuff. These kids are simply mind-boggling!
BTW, Sheilamarie, how was the little one's first day in school?-
sheilamarie said...
eric, we were in a rush this morning to get him ready for school. so i am preparing the camera for when he gets home this afternoon. LOL!
the dad was the lucky one who got to bring him this morning... at least no chance of a crying (drama)scene from me, hehe ;)
well, an hour more and lucho will be ending his classes. can't wait for him to get back home and tell me all about it =D-
said...
we gave dad a cell phone for his birthday. the grandchildren taught him how to send SMS. But one day he called me early morning to berate me. He was fuming mad I did not reply to his SMS. I asked him what number he was sending the SMS. He was sending them to my land line. LOL
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Señor Enrique said...
This is such a wonderful moment for Luis! Wish I was with him and his dad to document his first day in school :)
I guess with his father, he'd act more grown-up, huh? Can't wait to read more about it on your site later on :)
And before you know it, Sheilamarie, he'd be off to college!-
Señor Enrique said...
Ay! That happened to me on a couple of occasions, Anonymous!
So what I did was create separate listings for landline numbers and clearly indicated them as such. And with SIM cards getting cheaper, we have the added headaches of young family members with two or three different numbers. Ayayay!
I can understand your grandfather's disposition after not receiving any response at all ... hehehe!
And thank God for the grandkids!
