If you’d like to contact my Mom, she’s cruising her AOL account or anxiously awaiting a *DING* on AOL instant messenger. Yes, my Mom is NOT TECH SAVVY. She knows it. She is TRYING to adjust to the gmail my Sister and I setup for her. Someday, she’ll get Google Docs. We will move that business of her from snail mail to the digital age. It just takes time.
In all honesty, my Sister and I probably are the worse people to try to teach her. We’re impatient with good mom. We talk way too fast (and though we look nothing alike, our voices and lingo are just about identical), have no patience and well maybe teaching isn’t our gift, nor is tech support.
Helping Parents with Technology
(This is where Google goes from brilliant to GENIUS).
Apparently, there is a HUGE need for moving the older generation online and educating them in the way of tech. Google recognizes this. They understand people need to get it. They know that daughters and sons are attempting to teach parents how to do things (like copy and paste) and they’ve created a possible solution.
Teach Parents Tech
In 2010, Google had a created a website called teachparentstech.com. Unfortunately, this has since been retired. The need for tech support for parents is still a huge need though!
Google has created a site called Product Tips to show you how to use various features of Google. While not specifically focused to helping parents with tech support – it is quite useful.
Google has created several easy how to videos covering the basics that your parents may ask about. Sure, there are a lot of Google product tie-ins, but let’s face it… Mom and Dad NEED to know how to use Google products. On the teachparenttech.com website, you can send your parents a virtual tech support care package. You fill in who the care package is for, choose videos to send Mom and then *BOOM*. A cute email is created and sent to your Mom or Dad with how-to videos.
Here are the multitude of videos Google has created over various topics.
The Basics
- copy & paste
- adjust the time on your clock
- change your desktop background (Mac)
- change your wallpaper (PC)
- make text bigger (or smaller)
- take a screenshot
- change your screensaver (Mac)
- change your screensaver (PC)
World Wide Web
- create a strong password
- upgrade your browser
- make bookmarks
- make a blog
- shorten a long URL
- change your default homepage
- create an online calendar
- change your Google.com background
- browse the web with tabs
Communication
- set up an email auto-responder
- change your email address
- translate text
- make calls from your computer
- check your spelling
- stop getting a newsletter
- chat
- video chat
- get a new phone number
- create a mailing list
- create an email signature
- know if an email is real
- check email on your phone
Media
- resize a picture
- share a big file
- attach a file to an email
- share photos
- crop photos
- share videos
- transfer files between computers
- keep track of frequent flier numbers
Finding Information
- check the weather
- find a pizza restaurant near you
- get movie showtimes
- find the definition of a word
- get driving directions
- track a flight’s status
- convert currency
- use Google as a calculator
- get public transportation directions
- find a business’s phone number
- get stock quotes
- find restaurant reviews
- view live traffic
BRILLIANT! Thanks GOOGLE!
Are your parents tech savvy, or are they still stuck on AOL?
