iPhone Expert - Dad or Teens?

When I got my new iPhone 4, I had immediate command of the basics. I could make phone calls, trade text messages (including dirty text message jokes), take photos, set my background screen, set an alarm, change my ringtone, check the weather, enlarge the font (age is killing my eyes, what can I say?)... even read Dad’s House single parent blog.

Forget that this was my first smart phone with a touch screen. I was iPhone tech-savvy from the get-go.

Or so I thought.

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When my teen son came over to my house, he had a field day with my new iPhone 4. He downloaded games, downloaded apps, rearranged icons, set up a passcode, synced it with my laptop, and loaded my iPhone up with songs – 344, to be exact!

Ok, so my teen son is the iPhone expert. What can I say? He has an iPod touch, and all his friends have mobile gaming devices. They’ve been swapping tips and tricks for Apple products during school lunches for years.

When my teen daughter came over to my house, she went even deeper into the device. She had just returned from Europe where she visited a friend, and she wanted her friend to know she’d gotten back to California safely.

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“Are you calling her?” I asked.
“No, she’s still sleeping,” my daughter said. “They’re nine hours ahead.”
“Sending her a text?”
“No, I’m writing to her on Facebook.”

Okay, call me a dinosaur. I barely log into Facebook from my laptop. But from my iPhone? My teen daughter is a mega-expert in my eyes.

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The three of us were driving to dinner, for our first meal together since both of them got back from vacation. My son took my iPhone and downloaded yet another game. It was some maze thing where he had to move the iPhone side to side to work some ball from level to level. The damn thing was beeping like CRAZY!!!!

“See that switch on the side?” I asked. “Flip it down.”

Both kids went into meltdown overdrive. “No, that locks the screen!” “No, that will cut the game short.” “No, you don’t know anything about this phone.”

“It’s a mute switch,” I said. “Flip it.”

My son hesitated – after all, I’m an iPhone neophyte. He and his sister are the experts. What the hell did I know? I hadn’t even downloaded apps or loaded music or used Facebook on the iPhone by myself.

“Flip it,” I said.

He flipped it. The screen didn’t lock. The game didn’t quit. The annoying beeps STOPPED.

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“Wow,” my son said. “You know something about the iPhone that I didn’t know.”
“Of course I do,” I said. “I’m an iPhone expert.”
“No, you’re not. Tell me something else I don’t know.”
“I will when you’re ready.”
“I’m ready now!”

All in good time, Son. All in good time.