Blackberry and My Family

I was away from this tiny island of Singapore for 11 days. Went back to my small little town - Siantar in Indonesia. The first day when I arrived, I almost felt "crippled" as I didn't have access to my Blackberry :p ... the gateway to my social network. The next day, my parents helped me to find a shop that sell prepaid BB SIM card. It was something new to them too as they were still using the old fashioned Nokia that they never dropped nor broken any of the parts. They are amazing in taking care of things. :)

The next 10 days, they witnessed my obsessions with BB. Taking picture of all my favourite foods and straight away shared it with my friends in Jakarta, Singapore and even America. They were really amazed.

The day before I was supposed to fly back to Singapore, my dad insisted that he wanted to go to a mobile phones atrium sales event. On the spot, he bought a Blackberry Torch. Apparently, they have been watching me in "envy" on how fast I was able to send information all over the world with BB users. I was really happy that finally I am able to communicate with my parents "cheaply" through Blackberry Messenger (BBM).

However, I was worried. The learning curve for using BB especially for people who are not too tech-savvy, can be very very steep. I taught my mom a few things and within few minutes, she has forgotten them. I almost lost my patience! Then my mom sent me a message through BBM saying "my blackberry teacher is as fierce as a tigress". HAHA! That cracked me up. I said, well, it's payback time. You used to teach me with a rattan stick on one hand, and now we need to apply the same teaching method. :D

Now, I am back in Singapore and they are still learning on how to use BB - even I am still learning up to this day. There are so many short cuts to be discovered and how to make it a really effective and productive tool. Then few days ago, my mom sent me a voice note through BBM saying she is the most diligent student who studies in a very careful manner. Then my dad managed to change his profile photo and status to - everyday is a lucky day. Followed by my mom who's able to insert emoticons (smileys) into the messages. Next, my dad even confidently SMS his BB Pin to my friend who's not even using BB to begin with!

Not only those mini events brought me laughter but it made me feel so proud to have parents who still love learning and never succumb to age and negative beliefs when it comes to technology. Sure, my mom may type like a turtle and my dad still has tons of questions but the fact that they are no longer being restrained by their age when it comes to approaching something totally new - amazes me.

I am so proud of you, Mom and Dad. I hope when I am as "young" as you, technology doesn't scare me too.