iPhones and iPads are bringing significant changes to the way in which people communicate with their families, friends, colleagues and with the outside world, and how they access information, carry out work tasks and interpret and incorporate the non-alphabetic symbols and signs that represent daily realities. Additionally, many primary and secondary schools in Ireland have now replaced traditional textbooks with iPads loaded with the same textbook material, thus putting parents at a disadvantage if they are not familiar with the technology. This paper reports on the introduction of the iPad into an adult basic education classroom in which students were provided with a tablet which they used as a literacy tool for reading and writing, as well as a method of communicating digitally, of participating in digital social networks, and of keeping up with new social models through the use of various applications.