The challenges of using my new cell phone

(Chapter 21 Learning Something New in my book)

Recently I bought a new cell phone. It is an android and I know that I have never owned or used one of these before and I have never owned a “smart phone”. I consider myself “cell phone challenged”. I prefer to use my home phone and I usually use my cell phone if I am away from home. I have never gone on the internet with a cell phone and I don't know if that will change but who knows. I plan on using it for making phone calls and texting when I am not at home.

My first challenge with this new phone happened soon after I took it out of the box. All I could figure out how to do was take it out of the box. I tried to follow the directions that were given but I just couldn't figure out how to take off the back cover so that I could put the battery in. After several failed attempts at opening the back of the phone, I decided to call customer service. The woman on the phone walked me through how to get the cover off so that I was finally able to put the battery in and charge the phone.

Once the cell phone was fully charged, I followed the next step which was to turn the phone on. There was a picture with the directions and it showed the two buttons on the right side of the phone. It stated that the shorter, bottom button was the power button, but for some reason I didn't comprehend that. I called customer service and someone told me to press the smaller button to power it on. They told me that the larger button was for the volume.

Surprisingly, the phone seemed pretty easy to figure out how to add contacts to the phone. After I added some family and friends to contacts, I decided to text two friends and my daughter. I just sent each of them a short text explaining that I had a new cell phone. I asked each of them to please reply to my text when they get a chance, so that I would know that I did it right. It took several hours, but I did start hearing from all of the people who I texted. It was nice to know that I did it right.

A few days later, my home phone was not working, so I needed to call customer service using my cell phone. The problem was that I didn't know how to find the keypad in order to make a call. I only knew how to text and call when someone was in my contacts. I typed the customer service number into my contacts and called them to get my home phone fixed.

The next day, I was still having problems with my internet and home phone, so I went to the cable company office. They gave me a new modem. Then I asked them about making calls on my cell phone when I didn't have someone as a contact. The man showed me how to find the keypad button. After I got home, I practiced finding it on my cell phone. I am hoping that I can remember where the keypad is if I need to use it. That probably won’t happen until it is in my long-term memory.

UPDATE: Nov. 2019 There has definitely been a learning curve for me but I think that I'm doing okay using it. What I'm trying to get used to is using the calendar on my new cell phone. It is challenging to learn something new while living with a memory impairment.