My mum, who sells fish soup, recently signed up for the Hawkers Go Digital scheme by the Government to encourage contactless and cashless payments using Quick Response (QR) codes.

It should have been a no-brainer decision, given the convenience it offers, the health concerns in the current pandemic and a cash incentive dangled by the Government.

Hawkers who chalk up at least 20 transactions of at least S$1 monthly stand to get a cash bonus of up to S$1,500 (S$300 a month over any five months).

Yet my mum was not totally persuaded.

She was concerned about a possible time tag before the cashless payments are credited to her bank account. She said that cash flow is vital for a hawker due to regular recurring payments to suppliers.

She was also worried that the cashless system will be too complicated for her to manage. After all, she has never been good with technology and tends to shun it.

It took some time for a government digital ambassador to assuage her concerns before she participated.

The incident got me thinking about how my parents’ attitudes towards technology differ from their digital native son’s and how different their own youth would be if they had access to all the technologies that I have had.

Mind you, my parents aren’t exactly long in the tooth — my mum is 47 and my dad, who was recently retrenched from his restaurant manager job and now helps out at my mum’s stall, is 53.

But they grew up during a period when the pace of technological advances was not as rapid as today. Back then, there was no smartphone, no social media, and hardly anyone used the internet.

Neither my dad nor my mum had much education. And for years in their work, they did not have to use much technology at all.

When Facebook and WhatsApp came along, my parents did not embrace them immediately as they did not see the relevance of these inventions in their lives.

It was only when my sister and I started using them that these piqued the curiosity of my parents.

My sister and I later set up accounts on Facebook, Instagram, WeChat and WhatsApp for them and taught them on how to use these.

They picked things up pretty quickly and it helped that their friends were using these as well, so my parents had some motivation to learn them.  

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Generally, my dad is more open to trying new technologies than my mum due to his adventurous nature. For example, my dad loves to take videos of himself when he travels and post these and other photos on Facebook.

My mum however rarely posts anything on Facebook, using it mainly to see what her friends are sharing and what pops up in her Chinese news feeds. 

WhatsApp on the other hand has helped my mum greatly.

For example, if the quality of a supplier’s fish is poor, she will take photos with her phone and send them to the supplier via WhatsApp. This is much more effective than in the old days where she would have to try to call the supplier to explain the situation.

However, she remains hesitant to use PayNow and PayLah!, as she is worried about sending money to the wrong person using a mobile phone number. Past cases of wrong transfers only serve to enhance my mum's inherent distrust.

I have learned to accept that each of us will have to adapt to technology at a pace we are comfortable with.

To be sure, she is not totally adverse to technology, but just needs to be persuaded of its merits and usefulness before she adopts it.

The author says he has come to accept that his mum will adopt technology at a pace she is comfortable with.   Photo: Ili Mansor (Captured with Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G)

As for me, I can’t imagine a world and a lifestyle without technology.

I remember using Google for the very first time in 2008 when I was all of 11 years old to search for updates on the historic United States presidential election.

When my parents were 11, they would never have imagined having access to information around the world at their fingertips.

I count myself fortunate to have grown up in the internet age where easy access to news and information has helped me broaden my perspectives and be better informed and more “woke”.

Platforms such as LinkedIn also enable me to connect with my seniors and prominent figures of the various fields that I follow closely.

It was also via LinkedIn that I found my first job last year as a senior research associate with Singapore General Hospital when a recruiter happened to chance upon my profile.

In my work, I often had to get doctors to sign off certain documents. However, it was hard to get to them during the circuit breaker.

Luckily, a digital signature function in Adobe Acrobat Reader saved the day for me.

And who can do without communication tools such as WhatsApp and WeChat these days.

With borders closed due to Covid-19, I have not been able to visit my grandmother in Malaysia. But I am grateful I can keep in touch with her via WeChat.

This got me thinking about my dad's early days in Singapore when he arrived in 1980 at the age of 13 to work.

Due to his precarious financial situation of that time, overseas phone calls to his family were a rare treat for him.

Had WeChat or WhatsApp existed then, he could have easily kept in touch with his loved ones — this would have greatly alleviated his loneliness and made his early days in Singapore more bearable.

Indeed, tens of thousands of foreign workers in Singapore right now can make use of such apps to stay connected with their families back home during the present crisis.

Like most millennials, I am a heavy user of digital mobile photography. I have captured many photos of special occasions and my meet-ups with friends over the years and would browse through them occasionally to relive my memories, often with a smile.

In contrast, my parents have little such memories of their youth as they took photos only at rare formal events such as weddings.

When I ask my parents about their younger days, they can describe to me at great length all the fun and experiences they had with their friends. However, they don’t have any photos and videos to show me, making it harder for me to fully appreciate their past experiences.

Had smartphones exist back in those days, I am sure my parents would have documented their lives visually, and I would have a clearer picture of their past.

Reflecting on this makes me treasure my digital assets such as my photos even more now, in the form of old photos stored on my phone or in flash drives.

Technology has transformed my life and those around me in just a few short years. I cannot imagine what the future holds for all of us.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Maa Zhi Hong is an accounting graduate from Ngee Ann Polytechnic and works in the healthcare industry.

This piece is written in partnership with Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G as part of a series on how technology has empowered youths in their work and play.