How the young help the old

Carol Mokoena, 22, a UJ student, says it was to her detriment to add her parents, who are nearing 60, as Facebook friends. She helped them set it up and showed them how to use it.

“They now question my statuses and the pictures I upload and who the boys are who like it. I don’t think they quite get how it works. I have since blocked them and all older family members and when they ask me why they no longer see my stuff, I blame algorithms,” she laughs out loud. She says her dad has to put on his bifocals to read WhatsApp – adding that he has the largest font she has ever seen on a mobile unit. She says trying to teach them is like teaching a child.

Mokoena says her mom heard about Netflix and now wants to have it, but doesn’t understand that, unlike DSTV, she requires a Wi-Fi connection for the service to work.

“She doesn’t even know what Wi-Fi is,” laughs Mokoena.