Who would have thought?? Grandparents are worse than the teenagers...

[clementine]

So, we hosted my parents for the past 2 weeks.  They live out of state and always come for an extended stay over the holiday.  That alone can get to be a lot.  A little background - my parents are in their late 60's, very active, travel a lot, love to dote on their grandchildren, etc.  So, we are blessed that they are healthy and involved in our lives.   I bought new board games for us to play, we have family movie nights, and we love to have fun conversations.

 

BUT...my parents spend way more time on their iphones and ipads than my teenagers do!!!  Seriously, my mom is addicted to games on the ipad and my dad is always on his phone looking at stuff.  We were so surprised and kind of sad how consumed they are with their devices. 

 

It was a huge eye-opener to our teenagers AND actually very good for them to see how it affects others in the house when they are only looking at their phones.  We made it a point to keep our devices in our bedrooms and sit quietly while the grandparents were occupying themselves...hoping that they would take a hint.  Nope.  

 

This was probably the best way to show our kids how sad it is that devices have taken over family time.  AND I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO BE THE MEAN MOM TO SHOW THEM.   

[retiredHSmom]

I coud have written this.  My parents are also in their late 60's and they live in their phones.  It annoys me.

[AmandaVT]

My mom and MIL are the worst with their phones! We were doing pre-christmas grocery shopping together, and my mom was playing games on her phone while we were shopping in the store! Not even while waiting in line, literally while walking down the aisles. And she's on FB constantly. It's insane. 

[clementine]

Why does it make me feel better that my parents aren't the only ones?  Thank you!!

[MEmama]

Yep. My dad is 80 and his iPad is practically an extension of his body. My in laws are nearly as bad; FIL will read his pad all day and MIL plays candy crush during conversation. All live thousands of miles away, so when they/we visit, you'd think they could put the damn things down for awhile. But nope. At least the message isn't lost on DS. ;)

[Guest]

I liked your post because I so sympathize. My Mom once spent 8 freaking hours on the phone with Apple support because she couldn't use her iPad. This is a woman who has had cancer and a quadruple bypass and never cried. Her iPad froze and tears and panic ensued. 8 hours!!!! For an iPad!!! And she's almost 70. I think she'd rather give up her car than her iPad.

 

I wish my kids would get the same message from that as yours!

[LucyStoner]

My dad is on FB all the time ranting. 😂 He's hitting his mid 70s.

[Bootsie]

My mom is the same.  DD says she is not concerned about what I might post on FB but what her grandmother posts!  I have repeatedly asked her not to post things about my family on FB, but she does it anyway.  This is the woman who thought it was improper for a female to have her name listed in the phone book when I was growing up.  She was all concerned about privacy but now posts all types of private information on FB.  

 

Recently we were out of town and there were some old family friends who lived there.  She spent 2 hours in the hotel on FB "connecting" with people, rather than visiting the dear family friends.  

 

Mom was staying at our house the night DS was completing his early decision college app--we were up against a tight deadline with some other projects that had to get done that night.  It was stressful and I had told her it was the busiest and most stressful week that I had had in several years.  She said "I know you are busy but I really need you to look at something as soon as you get a chance..."  It was a picture a distant relative had posted on FB--a relative I can't remember seeing in over 30 years! I was beyond annoyed at that point... 

[Bootsie]

My mom is the same.  DD says she is not concerned about what I might post on FB but what her grandmother posts!  I have repeatedly asked her not to post things about my family on FB, but she does it anyway.  This is the woman who thought it was improper for a female to have her name listed in the phone book when I was growing up.  She was all concerned about privacy but now posts all types of private information on FB.  

 

Recently we were out of town and there were some old family friends who lived there.  She spent 2 hours in the hotel on FB "connecting" with people, rather than visiting the dear family friends.  

 

Mom was staying at our house the night DS was completing his early decision college app--we were up against a tight deadline with some other projects that had to get done that night.  It was stressful and I had told her it was the busiest and most stressful week that I had had in several years.  She said "I know you are busy but I really need you to look at something as soon as you get a chance..."  It was a picture a distant relative had posted on FB--a relative I can't remember seeing in over 30 years! I was beyond annoyed at that point... 

[UCF612]

My dad is like that. He's either on his kindle or watching tv.

[Guest]

I'm going to rescind my complaints now that I know it could be worse if she were on FB. Thank heavens no social media from any sides of our families! I guess a Candy Crush addicted almost 70 year old pales in comparison to an FB addict 70 year old!

[Renthead Mommy]

We say this too about our Senagers, but for different reasons.   FIL and his GF (who I introduced him to, is my BFF's mother and I have known for 30+ years) are together 5 years now.  They are both in their 70's.  They are worse than 16yos wrapped up in their own lives!   They both cared for ill spouses for the last few years, and the spouses died within 6 months of each other, which was just months before we came home stateside and lived near them for the first time as adults. 

 

OMG they are horrible sometimes!  They show up when they want.  They are oblivious to things going on around them.  They are so caught up in their own lives.  They text us later than is polite.  It drives us crazy.  After a PCS to a new state, they were coming to visit.  First they were driving over two days and showing up Monday.  Then they were showing up Sunday.  Then they called and said they booked flights and are arriving at this time on Friday, tickets already bought.  Husband said get a cup of coffee I'll be there in a few hours.  They were upset we weren't droping everything to be waiting on them to land, and that we made plans for Saturday (because they weren't supposed to be there yet!)  And so many other things.  They are just so sterotypicaly teenager!  Drives us insane!

[Shellydon]

Screens are addicting.

[Tanaqui]

Two words for you guys: Faraday cage. Seriously, the internet is full of paranoid survivalists explaining how to turn your living room or your entire home into a giant Faraday cage. "Oh. You can't get online? Yeah, we have some weird issues with wifi around here. Funny, right?"

 

(Don't ask me how you'd manage to get the windows in on the Faraday-ing. "Yes, we've had some vandalism recently....")

[Sara in AZ]

My 69 year old father is the worst. I understand completely.

[Scarlett]

My parents are the same. 71 and 78.

 

Bugs my sister more than me....I guess because she sees them twice a year and they are glued to their IPads.

[Garga]

My in-laws like their electronics, but are quite capable of putting them down. My mother hates electronics and won't touch them and won't let my dad touch them either. Yes, won't "let" my dad. But that's because he does get addicted to them. If he has them, he'll play for hours upon hours, so she sat him down and told him he was like an addict and he needed to quit. He agreed and now he has time limits for how much he plays on his computer.

 

 

I suppose that electronics can captivate anyone. Usually we hear about it with kids because they have the most free time. But I suppose retirees also have a lot of free time, and end up getting addicted.

 

I hope I don't get like that. I'm really seriously thinking of starting a list of all the "Things Not To Do When I Get Old" to refer to when I'm old so I don't annoy my family.

Edited December 28, 2016 by Garga

[TABmom]

I play candy crush and you only get 5 lives at a time. And then every 10 levels or so, it makes you wait 72 hours before unlocking the next "episode". So I don't know how anyone could play it all the time. We travel to see my family and sometimes I do pick up my phone and block out the world- because the level of social interaction is just too much for me! The expectation to have convos ALL the time is just more than I can take.