Seniors Are Able to Use Cell Phones and Text Safely with Support and Practice.

If you have read my previous hubs, you know that I grew up on a farm with two sisters and six brothers. We had a car and eventually a one ton truck but no utilities such as electricity, heat other than wood burning stoves, and not running water. We did not have a phone, either.

I think the first time I had access to a phone was when I stayed with my sister-in-law and her two children that were under five. They lived just outside of "town", whatever that means to those who have never lived in the country. My brother was a POW at that time and, since I was in high school, my mother thought I'd be good company for her.

I'm not sure I ever used the phone, similar to the one pictured. It was there but such an unknown object that it made me a bit uncomfortable and it did not always did not bring good news ... much like telegrams.

When I was old enough to work, I used phones constantly and became quite comfortable in using them. I even did a stint on a hotel switchboard.

In recent years I traveled alone across the country to visit relatives. Sometimes, Crow (my husband's name when writing my hubs) went with me but not often. Friends and relatives suggested, then insisted that I needed a cell phone, especially when traveling. I kept resisting but, finally, began looking at different plans and asking what others had. My sister and her husband had a pay-as-you-go that they seemed happy with. I researched different companies, polled friends and relatives, and finally decided on a Net-10.

I skimmed the instruction booklet and then misplaced it. Finally, I found it just as I learned one could be downloaded from the internet. People told me how lucky I was to have a Nokia and I would stroke the phone's exterior while wondering how this phone was different from other brands.

After a few months, I would remember to take it with me when I left the house. Occasionally, I would also think to turn it on. I often wear skirts or pants with cargo pockets; these provided accessibility as I would not have to hunt for the phone. After more months, I thought about texting and got out the instruction booklet. It didn't seem so difficult but then I found out that many instructions assume a prior knowledge that I didn't have. I asked my daughter for help. She set up a contact list ... numbers for immediate family and other close friends. I didn't want too many because scrolling through a lengthy list would not suit my slightly OCD style. She also referenced the names to numbers; i.e., Raven is '2' but I never use those except when pocket dialing.

After sporadically using the cell phone to text very brief messages, such as 'I'm at the *** Motel in Louisville, KY or Princeton, IN'. During that same trip I stayed a few days at my brother's house. His granddaughter watched as I struggled to text my 'kids' where I was. She practically snatched the phone from my hands, pushed some buttons, texted a couple of different times, and pushed more buttons, and then handed it back to me. She explained that she had altered the predictive text programming. I had read about predictive text in the instruction booklet and had a bare knowledge of how that worked. Anyway, I accepted what she told me, not completely understanding. I then texted her, experimenting with the current process and was so pleased with how much better everything worked.

I still have much to learn about cell phones and texting but have made much progress thanks to my niece who sends me texts regularly. If she didn't do that, my skill would probably deteriorate. I must admit that, although I know many of the acronyms and abbreviations most people use, I don't use them. Most of my texts have the format of a business memo, along with appropriate spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. I don't want my written language skills to deteriorate either but texting my way takes longer..

When my phone wears out, I'll have to buy another but, in the meantime, I can always buy a charger like the one shown if wires in the current one break. Neither am I promoting one cell phone brand or cellular plan over another. I chose the one I did because it seemed right for me. The option of joining others' plans was not available so the Net 10 choice was, I believe, one that met my needs quite nicely. Whoops! I've not texted one time this week so must do that now!