"Aren't You Impressed?"

Like most kids, when I was young I wanted to impress my parents with the skills I learned. "Look at me, I can use scissors!" or "Look I can draw a letter!" The goal was to get acknowledgment of the task and a little praise thrown in for good measure. Right now I'm having this weird role reversal with my mom, who is trying to impress me with the new things she's learning.

My mom recently decided to buy an iPhone. From what I can deduct, the only reason why she's buying an iPhone is because her best friend just bought one. Tech savvy my mother is not. In fact, my parents have never really been into technology. Growing up, they resisted getting a computer for the longest time, even though I begged and begged. I think my dad was actually afraid of them. My parents thought that all I wanted to do with a computer was play video games. Truth be told, gaming was a huge part of why I wanted a computer. But I also wanted to learn how to use one. This was the 80's and home computers were just coming into fashion and I dreamt of owning an Apple IIe. I wanted to be like Matthew Broderick in War Games (except for the whole almost starting World War III thing.) My parents finally relented and got me a computer. They had little to no interest in it themselves.

My parents have attempted to keep up with technology, but they're not good with it. There is always something "wrong" with their computer or their TV isn't programmed properly. My mom getting an iPhone is like somebody getting a state of the art computer only to use it as an expensive typewriter. She is not wired to use it for the internet. She uses her cell phone to store a few pictures of the grandkids and to call my sister 18 times a day.

Now that my mom has the iPhone, she is keen to show off what she is learning. Her speech is peppered with, "Aren't you impressed? I downloaded Fandango." or "Aren't you impressed? I learned how to type on it."

Truthfully, I'm not that impressed. My mom had already learned to send a text message or two and iPhones are notoriously easy to use. Most people know how to do what she's doing. But like a parent who needs to encourage a child who's saying, "look at me!", I have to muster up enthusiasm and praise her for a job well done.

"Yes mom, I'm impressed."