21 Ways Smartphones Completely Changed Our Way of Life

Before smartphones, life seemed a lot simpler. But when you really think about it, smartphones have made our lives significantly easier too. Here are 20 ways life was different before iPhones and Galaxy Notes changed everything.

Long before smartphones, if you wanted to get to a friend's house, visit a new place, or take a road trip, you had to take out an actual map to get from point A to point B. For those who didn’t own a map, they would have to get on their home computer, pull up MapQuest and print out the directions. A wrong turn could cause trouble, since there wasn't a GPS-enabled phone recalculating your route.

Nowadays every smartphone has a high-quality camera, and most feature different modes: portrait, photo, pano, and beyond. Before that, digital or film cameras were a must on any trip or special outing. Digital cameras made it a bit easier since you could view photos immediately and access them fairly quickly. Film cameras involved a more timely process. You’d typically gather up your film, then drop it off at your closest CVS or Walgreens to get the film developed.

Even sharing photos was different back then. Before smartphones, you’d have to ask for double copies of your photos and then physically give the prints to your friends and family. Now, at the tap of a button you can text or Airdrop photos, or upload them to social media for everyone to view.

Smartphones have changed the world of dating indefinitely. Most people used to meet at parties, bars or through mutual friends. That changed though, when an explosion of dating apps entered the marketplace. Now, people can just sign into Tinder, Hinge or OkCupid and start swiping for prospective dates.

Long distance relationships are hard. You may go months without seeing your significant other. At least now, video chatting is super easy with FaceTime and other video chatting apps like Skype on your phone. Without smartphones, you’d have to wait until you were by a computer with internet access to log on and get that face-to-face interaction.

Sometimes you need to leave work early to catch a train or get to an event, but that doesn’t mean work ends when you leave. Before smartphones, you'd have to completely sign off and hope nothing needed your attention or response right away, at least until you got access to a computer again. This way of life doesn't sound too bad...can we go back to it?!

Cooking is made simple thanks to the internet's never-ending supply of delicious recipes to look up on mobile—plus, you can watch step-by-step videos walking you through the process right there at the kitchen counter. Before that though, you'd depend on handwritten recipe cards that you got from family members and have to call up Grandma directly if you had a question.

Before smartphones you may have rolled the dice on buying a new product or testing out an unknown brand. At least now you can look up product reviews right at the store, before you get to the register.

If you wanted to keep in touch with someone from your past, you’d have to be good at emailing, writing to one another or talking on the phone (as long as you didn't misplace your Rolodex). Social media has clearly changed that. You don’t even need to talk to the person to know what’s going on with their life now, and it's easy to touch base with all your contacts at your fingertips.

Staying in touch also has its negatives. It was a lot easier to move on from a breakup before smartphones. Now you can know what your ex is up to just by signing into Facebook.

If you wanted to edit or modify your pictures, you’d have to hope your parents had Photoshop on their computers to do so. Today, mobile apps like Instagram and Snapchat allow the instant addition of filters, and more involved apps provide professional level photo editing capabilities.

It’s incredibly annoying when you can’t think of an actor’s name that starred in a movie. Before you’d just have to hope the people you were with could think of it or wait until you got home to look it up yourself. Enter the smartphone: ender of almost all historical debates.

When you had a check you needed to deposit in the bank, you’d have to get in your car and drive to your nearest branch. Now, online banking apps allow you to literally deposit checks from your couch. You just need to take a picture of your check and the money hits your account soon after.

Snagging a table at your favorite restaurant meant having to talk to the hostess or manager but you can avoid all the talking by using OpenTable for your dining needs. Then cancel your reservation with minimal shame.

Checking movie theatre times involved getting the newspaper out and looking up the times, or waiting for the drawn-out Moviefone recording to get to your showtimes. Now you can even select your seats from your phone!

Knowing the weather was in store used to mean turning the TV on and waiting for the weatherman to break down the hourly forecast. Guess what? There's an app for that!

Getting the news previously entailed watching your morning and evening news program or reading a physical newspaper. Now people digest their news through digital articles and even podcasts, and most phones send important updates in the form of push notifications.

Back in the day, you'd have to buy a clunky alarm clock and set that to wake you up each day. Phones today not only wake you with whatever tone you desire - they also can track your sleep patterns and remind you when to hit the hay.

If you had a decent music collection years ago, that probably meant a huge stack of CDs that had to be carried in a case for on-the-go listening. These days, your phone is able to store millions of songs and you can get immediate access to new releases through memberships like Apple Music and Spotify. Oh, and no need to lug around that bulky Sony Walkman—just don't forget your headphones!

If you wanted to know where your friends were, you’d have to call them or catch up with them in person. Now you can share your location via your smartphone or creepily look up your friends on apps like Snapchat or Find My Friends.

Buying anything required cash, credit, debit or a check but now you can tap your phone at stores to complete your transaction, or send some cash to your friend who handled the group dinner bill.