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Son Teaches Mom How to Use QQ, Warms Collective Heart of Internet

"Look for the chicken"

granny computer

With technology moving at breakneck speed, it can be difficult to keep up. While young minds are generally adaptable to new technologies, older generations, particularly the elderly, often get left behind. One Chinese son, however, has gone to great lengths to ensure that doesn’t happen to his parents. Hoping to keep in better touch with them, he crafted a pretty effective tutorial on how to use QQ, the popular video call and instant messenger service. His thoughtful and loving approach has, in turn, warmed the collective hearts of the Chinese Internet.

While designed for Chinese speakers, the pictorial may also be helpful to an English speaker trying to use QQ who doesn’t read Chinese, and doesn’t mind referring to QQ’s ubiquitous penguin mascot as a “chicken”.

Here are the directions:

mom qq instructions

How to Use QQ Video: To My Mom, By Ah Bun

mom qq instructions

1. Turning on the computer
1) Plug in, turn on
2) Find this button and press it
3) And then push this thing that sticks out on the computer monitor (it will change color!)

mom qq instructions

2. Finding QQ
1) Look for this chicken. Ignore everything else!
2) Use this thing (a computer mouse) and use your finger to press down on the red area. Click it twice.

mom qq instructions

3. Logging into QQ
1) After clicking on the chicken twice, a little window will appear.
2) Just press down on this red part of the window, and you’re set to go!!!

mom qq instructions

Special situation: Just in case my sister has already logged in and you can’t find your own QQ (account), then click on the black arrow as indicated in the red part of the window.
And then…

mom qq instructions

Using the mouse, click this area that will turn blue. Your (name) is “Mama”. Use the mouse to click here. Then repeat step three.

mom qq instructions

4. Entering video
(This is the) Main Screen (after logging in)
Don’t worry about any of these things
My name is right here, everything else you can ignore

mom qq instructions

5. Situation One - You miss me (You want to talk to me)
1) With the (mouse) in your hand, click twice on “Son”
2) Using the mouse, click here (on the blue part with the camera), and then wait

mom qq instructions

Situation Two - I miss you (I want to talk to you)
1) In the lower right-hand corner of the screen you’ll be able to find the chicken (if it appears)
2) The window for the video showing both you and I will appear in the lower-right corner
3) Press ‘accept’

Charles Liu

The Nanfang's Senior Editor