Thanksgiving

I asked my grandma what is the most important information technology to her. I knew the answer even before she asked; it was the telephone. She explained to me that although things like email and the Internet and even her shiny new iPad were extremely helpful to her, especially as she aged, they acted more like "add-ons" to the actions of the phone. She has been using the phone all her life, and still has a land line along with her cell phone. It's something she feels comfortable using. Before the time of caller ID she would call our house and not even introduce herself because she thought we all knew no one else called this constantly besides telemarketers....
Anyways, along with helping her stay close with her family that was extremely extremely dispersed around the country, or just giving her the ability to make her feel like she could keep in touch in a more intimate way than without it, she credits her job as the one thing that made the telephone vital in her life. She worked in Advertising, and as she explained to me, most of the planning occurred before the photoshoot. Calling someone rather than meeting just to catch up on one simple question gave everyone in the field more time to plan and prep, and thus made everything run a lot more efficiently. She laughed when she considered working without a phone. She looked over at my mother, who also works in advertising, "A lot has changed since I left the industry, but you are beyond lucky to have more than just a pager to get in touch with people when you are out buying props and wardrobe for the shoot!"
My grandma is now accustomed to texting, and she even states that she stays in touch with a lot of my cousins through her instagram account, commenting on and liking their photos, but even when she is using them more than some of her friends are, she still turns to the telephone even if it is just to say hi. I guess this is when I would turn to texting to say something along the lines of "hey" or "sup," but along with the cuteness factor of receiving a call from my grandma, it makes me happy now to really know that she's calling me on her favorite ICT.