As we get older we all want to have a sense of autonomy. Part of that autonomy as we’re getting older is the need to have a cell phone as none of us want to feel like we have to give up our freedoms. I know that I’ll want my parents to be able to do so as long as possible and that’s why I made sure I bought and taught my senior parents how to use a cell phone.

The autonomy issues are that as people get older there is an increased risk of something happening whether it is any type of accident or especially the possibilities of something happening medically. This is where the cell phone comes in as the ever important outlet. The question some people ask is what about the landline? Well the landline doesn’t follow you everywhere like the cell phone can. Imagine taking a short walk, going down the hall to do some laundry, or anything else of that nature where having the cell phone can make the timely call that could potentially be the difference between life and death.

Thinking about Beneficial Features

Only you will know the senior you’re purchasing for. Everyone else can only make suppositions; however, there are some things that are universal for almost every single senior. For the most part the older generation is more technophobic as they didn’t grow up with anything like this and the cell phone and some other technologies are foreign to them. Yet there are others that are up to the task and want to be able to use things like picture messaging to get photos of the grandchildren. The additional features are going to be for the more non technophobic senior. You’ll be the one to know who fits that mold or if they don’t. More predominately you’ll find that seniors are more technophobic and are going to just want things that have easy options and no frills.

No matter the features that you get you’ll want to make sure that the phone that you purchase uses larger buttons. The one thing about getting older is that for most of us our eyesight will drop off a little and that’s where the large buttons are going to be handy. The larger buttons will help to reduce misdialing mistakes, turning the phone on and off sooner and more.

Hearing and the Dial Tone

If the senior in your life wears hearing aids you’ll need to make sure that the phone that you purchase is hearing aid compatible. This is a special requirement so not all phones are going to have this ability. Even with that being the case though there are a lot of phone carriers that do carry some special phones that’ll accommodate this need.

There is another consideration and that is making the cell phone as real as possible through the use of a dial tone. This will make it as close to a landline experience as possible. Traditionally though you don’t have the dial tone on cell phones though and in order to make sure that some seniors know that the phone is working then you’ll need to find a phone which will offer the dial tone feature.

Prepaid and Other Plan Options

Another consideration is what type of plan or plan option you’re going to work with. You have the option for a prepaid cell phone plan or you also have the options to get a small plan for them or just add them as an extra line to your current cell phone plan. The important thing is that you’re making sure that there is an outlet for the senior in your life to make a phone call should there be an emergency no matter where they might be. The cell phone is going to give them emergency access in places where the landline can’t follow or help. Having an emergency outlet is the key and if the senior in your life is extremely technophobic and will only use it for emergency purposes that’s where the prepaid phone is going to be the best and the cheapest option. On the other hand if the senior in your life is going to want to use the phone more often and use some of the added features that you can get, such as, picture messaging than you should look into getting a basic cell phone plan for them. One other good possibility would be to do an additional line to your current plan. You’ll be able to do that with almost all carriers and for just about $10 a month and they’ll just take from your bucket of minutes. This also gives you the added benefits of the mobile to mobile calling. Not only is this going to save a lot of money it’ll also give an outlet for open communication and sharing with texts of the grandkids, etc… if they are a little more technologically savoir-faire. The one thing is that you’re not going to find this option with a lot of the prepaid options and if you do they’ll be extremely expensive. This is something that can help you with your decision making process. You, more than anyone else, knows the senior you are purchasing for more than anyone else possibly could. You’re the one that will be able to take all of the options into account and make the best decision for you and the senior in your life.

Final Thoughts

More than anything else the phone that you get should be simple enough for them to understand while still having everything that they might want. For almost all seniors you can employ the three simples. Simple for them to use, simple for them to understand and simple for them to contact the authorities should there be a sudden emergency.

Want to find out more about senior cell phones, then visit Jonathon Edwards’s site on how to choose the best senior cell phone.

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Filed under: Cell Phones

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