Every night before I go to bed, I set my phone’s alarm to wake me up the next morning. I set three different alarms just to wake up, so I make sure I don’t accidentally oversleep. When I’m finished setting my alarms, I set my phone right next to – my alarm clock. I’m not sure exactly when I started using my phone alarm for my wake-up call instead of my alarm clock, but it’s been going on for a while. Thinking about that got me thinking about all the other things my phone has replaced in my daily life.

I enjoy cooking, so I’m often looking up and buying ingredients for new recipes. It’s easier for me to browse for recipes and refer back to them from my one hand with my phone while stirring or being productive with the other, instead of flipping through pages and having to put things down and lose my place (I am very forgetful). If the dish requires baking, I’ll put it in the oven and set my phone timer, not necessarily because it’s easier than using a kitchen timer but so I can leave the area and I will definitely hear the alarm since my phone is always with me. My phone has become a huge part of my kitchen activities.

As  I had mentioned, I’m a very forgetful person, so you can imagine just how handy the calendar and reminders setting is for me. I have a physical calendar, but even after receiving a phone call I’ll forget to walk over to it and write down the times and dates I need to be somewhere, or when something is due. Plus, with a physical calendar you only have so much space. I have unlimited space on my phone to be able to “pencil” in a new appoint or due date here and there.

I still receive magazines in the mail sometimes, but I hardly read them. I’ve found myself donating them to women’s shelters in the area because they just bring clutter to my house. Most of the articles I would be interested in reading I’ve already found – or could find – on my phone. Books, however, are a different story as I actually prefer having the physical book in my hand. I love my Amazon Kindle app, but if I have a choice between a physical book and my phone I’ll definitely choose the book. There are still some things you just can’t replace with a smartphone… yet. I will admit that it was easier to read with a Kindle on one of my larger screened Androids as opposed to m 3.5” iPhone 4S, but it’s still doable.

I’ve found that since understanding and using a lot of the features of a smartphone my life has become more organized than I used to be. Information is more easily accessible so if I ever need to know what’s going on in the news, or want to know what new phones are coming out, or how much the price of tea in China is all I have to do is open my browser and type it in. Assuming I’m not in the middle of the Saraha Desert, I shouldn’t have a problem retrieving the information in a matter of seconds.

So what do you guys use your smartphones for? Do you find that it’s made your life easier? Harder? Let me know what smartphones have done to change your life!

Image via OhGizmo