Miss Brown has never been familiar with technology. To her, computers, laptops, MP3 players, touchscreen phones and the like are meant for baby boomers and younger, not for someone as senior as her.
It doesn't matter how far technology has come. It doesn't matter how convenient and practical and functional technology has made our lives. Neither does it matter whether said technology has turned lifestyles into the new norm.
She was, and is, fine with her small alphanumeric mobile phone.
However, a few weeks ago, Miss Brown found herself on a video call with her caregiver and son. They'd come regularly- every week, if not, every couple of weeks or so- but they hadn't swung by for some time, and although Miss Brown found it a little puzzling, it seemed that none of her neighbors had visitors anyway.
The nurses explained to her that visitors would not be able to come for a while, and they'd make it such that they could still call and talk to her and see her on the phone.
At first Miss Brown didn't understand, and then one Sunday afternoon the staff nurse got her out of her bed and had her seated on the pink gerry chair. A mobile phone was set up- its screen facing her- and then the nurse pressed a few buttons on the screen.
A while later a face appeared, and then suddenly the screen changed. Two faces- one of her caregiver, and the other of her son- replaced the previous picture, but unlike that one, this one on the screen was moving. It was like watching a very small television but the ones on the screen were people she knew. It was a little confusing. How did their faces appear so quickly on screen, and how was it that she could see them waving cheerfully at her? Where did they pop up from?
Not just that, her own face was on an even smaller screen at the bottom right corner! So she was looking at herself and looking at the two of them at the same time? For a moment Miss Brown didn't know where to look. She heard her caregiver's voice. She heard her son's voice. So they were on screen? They were filming themselves? She was being filmed?
During the entire phone call Miss Brown flicked her eyes repeatedly from the large screen to the small to the large to the small and then back to the large again. It was hard to tell where she was supposed to look! It was so new! So very, very new! Then she tried concentrating, but the more she concentrated, the more they thought she was confused and suddenly three people were all talking at the same time. The nurse behind gesticulated for her to look at the large screen and wave. Her caregiver waved eagerly at her and somewhere hidden behind the large screen was her son whom she could recognize with his new hair.
It was hard to recognize them when they were on screen like this, Miss Brown thought, and then she heard her son ask her a question that was remarkably familiar to her. She recognized that question. It was something he always- without fail- asked of her whenever he came, and he always demanded an answer from her.
So yeah, funny as this technology was, funny as it was having to stare weirdly at the front of the phone, that was her son, and her caregiver on the other side of the screen after all.
It doesn't matter how far technology has come. It doesn't matter how convenient and practical and functional technology has made our lives. Neither does it matter whether said technology has turned lifestyles into the new norm.
She was, and is, fine with her small alphanumeric mobile phone.
However, a few weeks ago, Miss Brown found herself on a video call with her caregiver and son. They'd come regularly- every week, if not, every couple of weeks or so- but they hadn't swung by for some time, and although Miss Brown found it a little puzzling, it seemed that none of her neighbors had visitors anyway.
The nurses explained to her that visitors would not be able to come for a while, and they'd make it such that they could still call and talk to her and see her on the phone.
At first Miss Brown didn't understand, and then one Sunday afternoon the staff nurse got her out of her bed and had her seated on the pink gerry chair. A mobile phone was set up- its screen facing her- and then the nurse pressed a few buttons on the screen.
A while later a face appeared, and then suddenly the screen changed. Two faces- one of her caregiver, and the other of her son- replaced the previous picture, but unlike that one, this one on the screen was moving. It was like watching a very small television but the ones on the screen were people she knew. It was a little confusing. How did their faces appear so quickly on screen, and how was it that she could see them waving cheerfully at her? Where did they pop up from?
Not just that, her own face was on an even smaller screen at the bottom right corner! So she was looking at herself and looking at the two of them at the same time? For a moment Miss Brown didn't know where to look. She heard her caregiver's voice. She heard her son's voice. So they were on screen? They were filming themselves? She was being filmed?
During the entire phone call Miss Brown flicked her eyes repeatedly from the large screen to the small to the large to the small and then back to the large again. It was hard to tell where she was supposed to look! It was so new! So very, very new! Then she tried concentrating, but the more she concentrated, the more they thought she was confused and suddenly three people were all talking at the same time. The nurse behind gesticulated for her to look at the large screen and wave. Her caregiver waved eagerly at her and somewhere hidden behind the large screen was her son whom she could recognize with his new hair.
It was hard to recognize them when they were on screen like this, Miss Brown thought, and then she heard her son ask her a question that was remarkably familiar to her. She recognized that question. It was something he always- without fail- asked of her whenever he came, and he always demanded an answer from her.
So yeah, funny as this technology was, funny as it was having to stare weirdly at the front of the phone, that was her son, and her caregiver on the other side of the screen after all.