Gangsta Billy
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Crazy Family
By Gwen Cooper

Smart phones… making the world look drunk and literate one auto-correct at a time.
~Author Unknown

It started when we got my grandmother an iPhone. Technology had never been her forte; we had laminated lists and handwritten directions on sticky notes all throughout her house to help guide her through things like changing the input on her television so she could watch a movie, and then how to change it back again to watch cable. Despite these notes and directions, I would often get a phone call when she wanted to do something technological that I had helped her with on a previous day. It was endearing, and any reason to talk with my grandmother was fine by me. But I could sense her hesitation with the smart phone, and I would be lying if I didn’t admit I had my own misgivings when the family wanted to get her set up with one.

She had had an iPad for a few months and seemed to be managing well with Facebook, e-mail, and copying recipes and pictures. There were a few extra features that made the iPhone more complicated, plus the screen and keyboard were smaller. Nonetheless, we all took a deep breath as a family and embarked on this new adventure of teaching our grandmother to use an iPhone. (Keep reading)