New technology tends to skew our relationships with our parents, in that we often tend to become the experts, and they're the students. I've shared many cute stories with you about my parents learning to do new things with their computers, but the other side of that is that I've become my parents' de facto tech support.
Email not coming in? Mom's on the phone. New laptop decision making? Dad's on the phone.
And sure, I'm in a job where I'm reading about tech news all day every day, but I think my position is also a symptom of my generation — my cousin, who's not super tech-savvy, is still the go-to for her parents and grandmother. My boyfriend gets frequent calls from his mom to help, and most of my friends report that they help out their parents with tech stuff as well.
Now you go — are you the tech support for your parents or other family members?
Alexander McQueen
oh god, like you would not believe!
1Nah. My mother is completely hopeless when it comes to technology, but my father is very tech savvy, so she just asks him. But I am definitely next in line for the most knowledgeable in my family when it comes to tech stuff. I take after my father in a lot of ways.
2I'm definitely the go-to tech support person of the family... from general email/web browsing questions to setting up the wireless network (remotely, with over the phone instructions... fun times!)
3My mom has an Apple and a ProCare subscription for those moments when something goes wrong. I'm happy to help her with tips and tricks, but I'm not much help with troubleshooting. My dad has always been a problem solver, plus his computer is from his office, so if anything goes wrong that he can't fix he just goes to the IT department for help.
4Yup I am tech support for my mom and sister.
5I am tech support for both sides of my family. Buying a new tv? They call me. Help with the Blackberry? They call me. Computer? Me.I don't mind helping out, as long as they appreciate it. I even bought a thinkgeek shirt that says "No I will not fix your computer." and I wear it to my family's house.
6Oddly, I am Tech Support for my daughter, her husband, my sister and several other family members and friends. I have always been interested in gadgets and technology so despite my age (I am waaay older than most of you here) I am the "go to" person for support in my circle of friends and family.
7Yes! I taught my mum how to use her mobile phone, sent sms texts, email, navigate through her new pink dell laptop, set up her sidebar, create her own igoogle page, download music and put it on her ipod, chat on msn, use her webcam and navigate through skype, learn to take photos on her digital camera - download them - upload them to her wireless digital see-frame, and Picasa! She's been a brilliant learner, I've enjoyed the process, and now she's gotten very tech savy and taught me a few things as well
I'm VERY proud of her!! Next step - skype using the PS3 
8My husband is the family/friend tech guru since he works in IT. But, I made the mistake of letting my office know about my geekiness - now I'm the "go to girl" for our IT department since they are a 2 guy operation in a different city. And yes, I saved the email where they called me "go to girl"
9Yes, I had to help my mother create a Match.com profile and help her upload her profile pics from her camera to her computer.
10Oh yes. I mean, I know enough about computers to do more than the basics, but I'm no computer tech specialist! My family is always asking me to find things or do things to the slow Dell we have...one time they couldn't figure out why the computer was running so slow (spyware), and they just called me and pointed to the computer and said, "make it go faster!"
@_@ It's pretty annoying, because I show them what to do so they don't have to call me all the time - but of course they don't listen!
11I am the tech support for everyone in my family, my friends and co-workers.
12If there is a problem they call me.
More than you can imagine. lol I am the tech go-to girl for ALL of my friends & family, including EXTENDED family. I'm Mexican, so my EXTENDED family is huge!
13I always get a call or txt. Sometimes, I even get a knock on the door with their computers in hand.
My dad goes to my younger cousin (works in tech field), which is fine except that the cousin does *not* make considerations for what is trendy or chic, etc.
Sometimes it makes me wanna scream, "Hello, pa, I know that stuff too" I read geek sugar ok!" LOL
14me and my other cousin are the entire family's tech support. idk how or when it happened but the only time random family members call its because they don't know how to open a pdf or something randomly easy. I gave my parents lessons on the computer with NOTES and still they call and ask. :\
15I am the Tech Support for my family.
16My grandparents are better with tech gadgets than my mother is. :/
I must get a call like this every week or so from my mother:
"Hi, it's mom. The computer's making a funny noise. What should I do?"
We also made the mistake of getting her a laptop on which the wireless on/off switch is on the front, near the screen locking mechanism. Until she finally remembered where it was, I would get calls almost every DAY asking why her internet wasn't working.
I don't mind helping, though. I just hate that I get a bunch of calls from relatives around the holidays asking which gadgets they should buy for husband/wife/kids. Christmas is so boring when you already know what everyone's getting!
17All the time!!
18Most of the time they act like I have no clue, until they get a virus! Then it's like I've gotta save them! LOL
19i actually am, even for the programs/apps i NEVER use (corel wordperfect?!)... and i always keep up with the updates on both my parents PC's.
20Yes! It's annoying, when you think something is so simple like "just click it!", but they just keep staring and wondering.
But my family is pretty geeky so I'm not the only tech support, it's a 50-50 case.
21My dad is pretty tech savvy when it comes to hardware. He sometimes has questions with software (like word processing). My mom on the other hand is trying to learn. She's so cute about it. She'll hear terms on TV like Twitter and texting... and ask me what it means. Too funny.
22I am definitely the go to person for tech related questions, makes me feel good
My
sister isn't really tech savvy so she comes to me for tech related questions too!
23Sometimes. I am willing to help. But I try to avoid it in case we both get frustrated with each other. Then it is no good.
24Indeed.
25I'm running a malware scan on their desktop as I type this, lol.
It's definitely a universal experience. (Full disclosure- I work for a company called support.com that provides North America-based remote tech support for consumers) We were recently at the Demo conference and had several of the top technology journalists come over and say, 'I need to tell my mom about you guys so that she can stop calling me!" And when we launched gift cards, I finally felt OK getting my mom a new camera because I knew our people would handle the set-up and training and I wouldn't get a million calls asking, "What's a driver?" The peace of mind is worth every penny, especially if your mom is anywhere near as inquisitive as mine!
26My mom always has a hard time with programming in an alarm on her cell phone. I dont know how she woke up before her cell phone
My dad is super tech savvy but when it comes to questions about mac products or things
similar to burning or photos, I'm his go to girl 
27Post New Comment
Please share your opinion with our community, but make sure it is on topic and follows our Community Rules. We moderate comments and prohibit personal attacks, threats, spam, lewd images, or the promotion of your personal website.