As Our Parents Age So Do We

So you have a senior parents who’s interested in smartphone? Here’s a story, and some interesting statistics to boot.

Last Wednesday I dropped my iPhone on the driveway. I’ve managed to avoid such a mishap for more than two-and-a-half years, but Wednesday was my day of reckoning, I guess. The touch screen shattered like safety glass, not falling apart, so I put clear package tape on the screen to ensure it did not come apart while I made some fast decisions. Interestingly, the touch screen still worked and with the tape, I could carry on.

At first I thought I might just purchase a new iPhone the next morning, but then I remembered that the presumed announcement for the iPhone 5 is next week, in early October. Also, I’ve promised to give my 85-year-old mom my iPhone when I get a new one. She is really excited about this, and if you read a recent post, Smartphone Ownership Among Boomers and Seniors Explodes, over at Aging Online, you’ll understand a bit more about why mom is eager to get started with a smartphone.

The thing is, she is simply tired of everyone else being able to look things up on their phones when she can’t do it too.

So I googled iPhone repair and the name of my town, and sure enough, not too far away was a vendor that repairs touch screens, and sometimes they can do the fix while a person waits. I drove over hoping that they might be able to replace the screen, but with few hopes that I might be able to wait for it.

HAPPY ENDING: I did get to wait for it. I took the phone over at 10:40 in the morning and by 11:20 I had paid for the repair and was on my way back to work. Great for everyone. Mom still gets a perfectly good working iPhone with a brand new screen, and I’ll get to buy the newest one when it goes on sale this fall.

Coming soon —Mom Masters her iPhone.