One day we’ll all be there - a senior citizen in distress and in need of an emergency cellular phone, but the buttons and technology of it all will probably boggle our minds, depending on how many brain cells we have remaining at that time. I can’t even imagine what cell phones will be like by the time I’m a senior citizen, but I suppose by then they’ll be implanted into our brains and have a handy remote control — yes I know, it’s a scary thought.

When I read about the opportunity to write about these senior cell phones that are now available, I figured I had to jump on it since I have a funny story to share. Several years ago my family decided it would be a good idea to purchase a cell phone for my father since he still drives. We figured if he and mom are going to be out on the road that it really is a necessity for them to have a cell phone.

We were all excited and purchased my dad a cell phone for a gift, but it quickly became apparent that he wasn’t so excited. In that my father is computer savvy we really thought it would not be an issue for him to learn how to use the cell phone but issues developed rapidly.

The first hurdle we had to get over was to get him to simply leave it turned on! We finally determined the reason he didn’t want to turn it on was because he thought having it turned on was going to count toward his minutes used. OK, we finally got his anxiety over that issue resolved, but then the next issue came up.

In that he would only need the phone for emergency use, he had the type of phone where we purchased the prepaid pay as you go cell phones plan, and it was working out to be less than $10.00 a month for the plan. But, he refused to use his minutes because he was absolutely floored when he calculated out the per-minute price, which really wasn’t an issue because it was still the cheapest cell phone plan considering the low amount of use he needed it for. What it boiled down to was he stopped using the phone completely and he did the unthinkable — he purchased a pair of 2 mile range walky-talkies - lol.

When confronted with how in the heck walkie talkies would bail him out in the event of an emergency, he realized he didn’t have an answer. Or, when I brought to his attention that if he got a flat tire on the road that he could not exactly contact a tire store via the archaic technology of a walkie talkie he realized he didn’t have an answer for that one either. He actually thought the walkie talkie technology would have been superior and easier to a cell phone. Then when we confronted him in regards to how in the heck he would contact us from his walkie talkie he suggested that he would purchase us each a pair of our own! Sorry Dad, but with all due respect that technology is superseded by cell phones, and by far.

When it was all said and done, he finally agreed to go back to a cell phone when my brother-in-law added an extra phone to their service for around $10.00 a month. This my father finally agreed to.

If any of my story sounds familiar, and you want to get a cell phone for your senior parents but are afraid the typical phone just might not be the answer, here’s some things to consider. You can get a phone that’s created specifically for seniors with bigger buttons for them to see easier, brighter screens for easier viewing, and with louder ring tones to be heard by even the hardest of hearing senior. Finally, it also provides friendlier service for them from a staff that won’t lose patience so quickly knowing they’re going to be dealing with seniors.

When we originally purchased the first cell phone for my father, I wish the Senior Cell Phone program had been available then. We probably would not have gone through all the hassle we did with getting my father use to the idea of having one.