Technology isn’t easy for everybody. Some of us were born in a different generation, back when the landline phone was still the rage and cell phones used to weigh more than a gallon of milk. For some of our moms and dads, the exciting “new” world of the Internet is understandably hard to navigate.
But moms and dads will try their best, which often results in hilarious fails. Luckily, some of the funniest parents’ texts have been uploaded online for our enjoyment. Up next, we have 50-plus of the very best.
See Before Typing
Some moms aren’t just new to technology: they also have a hard time seeing all the tiny letters and buttons on their cell phones. The situation, of course, gets even worse when moms try to write a text without their glasses on.
In this hilarious exchange of messages, a mom lost her glasses and wrote a cryptic text that sounded like something coming straight out of a randomizer program. Her son or daughter was as puzzled as we are, but the final text explains everything!
AutoCorrect Disaster
AutoCorrect is a powerful and helpful tool, but even the most tech-savvy amongst us have struggled with it in the past. If AutoCorrect can be annoying for the young, imagine how hard it must be to master for a mom who’s just started navigating the web.
Out of all the AutoCorrect disasters we’ve seen, this one is probably the funniest. As if the “fondled ourselves” part wasn’t awkward enough, this poor mom accidentally used the word “erect” when trying to refer to AutoCorrect.
Overly Emojional
The word “emoji” comes from the Japanese words “e” (meaning picture) and “moji” (meaning letter). That’s a nice fact, but one that doesn’t matter much in the context of this picture. Nonetheless, we’re proud to introduce to you… the overly emojional mom!
What’s an overly emojional mom? It’s a mom who’s so excited about finding out she can send little pictures to her children that she won’t stop until the excessive number of emojis breaks her phone. What’s worse is that she seems to select every emoji randomly!
Out for… Ice Cream
The thing about emoticons is that they’re not always as precise as we assume. To people new to the world of Internet chatting and text-message, even an emoticon as popular as the “<3” can be grossly misunderstood.
To be fair to this confused mom who we thought was “going out for love,” the “<3” emoticon does look more like an ice cream cone than a heart. We’re happy that this mom is just getting some ice cream, not announcing to her child that she’s out there looking for a new dad.
Just So You Know
Amy’s dad just got himself a new smartphone, and Amy is happy because that means she can now talk with her dad all the time. But little did Amy know that having a dad with a phone is not a blessing but more of a curse.
After all, Amy’s dad is a real joker who loves to say “hi” in the rudest way possible. Amy was probably missing him very much… Until the day she learned he felt the opposite way.
Finding Twitter
Social media can be confusing to people who are new to the Internet. But mistaking your private messages for Twitter is bad in any context. Luckily, this mishap wasn’t the other way around: after all, there is nothing more embarrassing than posting a private message in a place where everyone can see it.
Poor Andy needs to urgently help his mom navigate the exciting new world of social media before she does anything she will regret. “No, mom, this isn’t Twitter!”
“What Is a Stiffy?”
If there’s something children hate to discuss with their parents, that’s… Intimacy. It’s nice to have parents who love each other, but not so nice to have parents who demonstrate it all the time. Luckily, this soon-to-be-divorced mom wasn’t trying to be open about her intimacy: she simply fell victim to the AutoCorrect.
Nobody likes to get a Swiffer (an everyday cleaning tool) for a birthday, but that’s no reason to scare your child for life. This whole conversation is hilarious, but the “what is a stiffy” message made us laugh.
Hungry for Some Beans?
Internet moms are at their most cringy when trying to look cool. To do so, they will attempt to overuse slang expressions that they believe to be hip but are just lame. One of the best examples? The expression “cool beans” here also translated to the Spanish “cool frijoles.”
According to Stacker, the expression “cool beans” was popularized in the ’70s by the comedy duo Cheech and Chong. It was also used extensively by D. J. Tanner, a character from “Full House.”
Passive Aggressive
Isn’t it nice when moms send us a sweet message? Especially a cute good morning message. Sadly, though, some moms do not know how to be sweet without adding a little bit of passive aggression to the mix. Take this message, for instance: it looks innocent enough until you start peeling off all the passive-aggressive layers.
More than a “good morning” text, this is a way of telling your daughter she still has not found a boyfriend. Couldn’t she have stopped at “beautiful?”
Sometimes, It’s Better to Give Up
We don’t need to be professional photographers to understand the concept of a finger-covered lens. But some moms are so unfamiliar with technology that they need a workshop on how to take pictures with their cell phones. At least she knows how to send an image, even if the image’s not right.
What’s funny about this message exchange is that the son decided to give up after three failed attempts. Too bad we never got to see what the “beautiful day” this mom was talking about looked like.
A Long-Clicking Accident?
We tried to find a logical explanation for this one, and we can only assume that this parent doesn’t know that you don’t have to long-click every single letter before writing a message. They seem to be selecting the alternative characters that show up when you long-click a letter for EACH letter!
Luckily, this parent can count on the support of their child, who stated loud and clear, “I’ll be there.” On the other hand, writing with nothing but alternative characters does look fun!
YOLO Lifestyle
Being Internet-savvy isn’t just about knowing how text messages and social media work. It also involves knowing the “hip” terms that young people use to communicate. This mom is doing her homework and even learned a new expression: YOLO, meaning “You Only Live Once.” Sadly, she forgot about the importance of context.
YOLO is generally used as an anti-warning (to inspire people to let go and have fun despite the risks), but we love how this funny mom reinvented the term.
A Rare Success Story
Moms on the Internet can be annoying, but this image shows that a bit of patience can go a long way. This mom was desperate because she couldn’t find the space bar on her cell phone (despite it being highlighted in the keypad), but she eventually managed to do so.
Could’ve she done it without talking to her child first? Probably, but it’s impossible to know for sure. It’s a major source of inspiration for all children who don’t feel like helping their parents.
Mastering the Emoticon
We’re so accustomed to seeing moms do the most embarrassing things on the Internet that we never saw this one coming! It takes an impressive amount of creativity and tech-savviness to develop your own emoticon, but—as far as we know—that’s precisely what this mom did.
We don’t know about you, but we will embrace the “bowtie man” and use it in our messages from now on. We don’t know how it applies in context, but we already know he “doesn’t do anything stupid.”
No Mercy Mom
We can’t imagine anything scarier than being at home and thinking that there’s a robber inside. So, we can only guess that this mom was trying to teach her daughter a lesson when she pranked her into believing that someone was potentially going to kill her.
The cherry on the top of the cake? The moment she locked her daughter inside the very same closet she was hiding at. It’s a masterpiece of a prank, but isn’t it a bit too cruel?