This morning I received a text from my mum that simply read,
"OM" – and for a second I thought she’d turned Hindu.
“Perhaps she’d finally found inner peace”, I thought to
myself. Or maybe she’d just been listening to The Beatles song Across the Universe
and thought she’d text me some of the lyrics.
I didn’t think any of the above, if I’m honest: I’m exaggerating
for comic effect. I knew that what she really wanted to say was “OK”; any allusion to mystical Sanskrit was due to a slip of the digits.
This is what happens when people of a certain age are faced
with modern technology. Over time, you come to expect it.
It’s like a few months back, when I was on the phone to my
dad, offering him advice before he bought a new computer. He was thinking of
getting a desktop PC, but I told him that for the sort of thing he’d be
using it for, such as checking his email or internet banking, he might as well
just buy a laptop.
Initially, he wasn’t convinced. I eventually brought
him around to the idea, though not before he explained his misgivings with an
unintentional but vivid mental image.
“But Dave”, he said. “I don’t want one with that fingermouse
thing.”
I bloody love my parents.