PSA: This reminder is as much for me as it is for you. Indeed, it might even be more for me than it is for you.
For some of you reading this, this morning's post may function as a good reminder for the balancing act you will be engaging in this holiday season as you put on your tech-support-for-the-family hat. We shouldn't be trying to replicate our setup. We should be focused on improving their set up that speaks to their idiosyncrasies.
For example, a few years ago, I helped my in-laws walk through what they wanted when replacing their old iMac.
They didn't need an iMac. They do nothing that requires the computing power or OS-level capabilities it offers. They could have easily gotten by with an iPad Air and a cable that plugged it into an external monitor and repurposing their old keyboard and track pad.
But that wasn't what was wanted or have been comfortable with. They were happier with the comfortable familiarity of a traditional computer set up.
I remember explaining the benefits of the iPad Air and/or Pro to them and, when they chose the iMac, gritting my teeth at their unwillingness to accept my genius, and helping them with their order.
In hindsight, I was thinking of how I would use their setup (Okay, and a little about how I would provide tech support for it.) rather than how they would use it. And that was the wrong approach to take.
I was right only in the technical sense. What I was offering wasn't right for them.
I am exaggerating a little here to make the point (an important acknowledgement in case my mother-in-law reads this). Nevertheless, the point remains and it is something I am more conscious of as I catch up on the in person tech support for my side of the family: My "job" is to help them find ways to make technology serve them better — not to try and replicate my workflows and use cases like some kind of tech support delivered virus.
No matter how much of a genius approach that virus might take.
Good luck with your family tech support, dear reader, and Happy Holidays.