Mobile is for everyone, including the aged

An elderly lady with a gentian violet hairdo answered her cellphone a few seconds later. Breakfast resumed.

My wife and I were on our way to Golden Gate and from there we planned to explore the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands Meander. On our way out I stopped by at gran's table, introduced myself and asked her if she knew what the title of her ring tone was. "Oh yes, it is Toreador from Carmen," was the immediate reply.

Her grandson had downloaded it for her - look, here is a pic of her grandson on the phone. She clicked through the image file. And look at this picture, it's the cake for his 21st, brightly lit and full of candles. And, oh, do you know how to remove this wallpaper from the dial of the cellphone because it's too bright and she can't see the info on the phone...?

I deleted the image for her and we then got around to chatting about the Free State. Her companion grew up in my hometown and frequently visited my father's café to drink milkshakes and listen to the jukebox. Before you could say "Kill the bull", we were chatting and reminiscing about the good old days. A mini mobile networking community!

It dawned on me that my pre-conception that older folk would not use mobile technology was ill-informed. There are thousands of grandparents who have had their mobile phones set up by their grandchildren. And, if the only way in which Nana can "talk" to her granddaughter is by means of SMS, then she will no doubt do so.

The march of technology is inexorable and no doubt this year we will see a slew of handsets that render the functions of communicating by mobile even simpler and more intuitive. Roll on 2007!