Somebody learned to text, use emojis and download an app just to talk to you. That counts.

Learning new technology late in life is genuinely hard, and somebody did it in order to reach you. They worked out the app, the keyboard and the little pictures that mean things, and absorbed the embarrassment of being bad at something in front of younger people. All that effort was aimed at staying in contact with you. The clumsy messages are the evidence of it.

Reply properly this week, not with a single word. And if they are still stuck on something, sit down and teach them one thing patiently. You have time they do not.