Growing up, my family grew accustomed to watching the news every night at 9. This was a way for us kids to be able to stay up thirty minutes longer, and if an important event was being covered we could stay up for thirty minutes longer just by asking questions. As kids, we just didn't want to go to bed for the most part. As a young adult, it was my window into the events happening in the world. But since I've gotten a smartphone, not to mention no longer deal with bedtimes (other than my son's) I've found that my phone is a much more convenient news source than watching a news recap every night at 9.

The first convenience is realizing that I no longer have a time frame in which I need to be paying attention to the TV. Hundreds of news sources are available to me at my very fingertips whenever I want to read about them, plus I have the convenience of reading about them or watching videos from wherever I want. Of course, I could have done this with a laptop as well, but given that smartphones are just that much more portable it seems more convenient than a laptop ever was in order to keep tabs on important news coverage.

In fact, smartphones have only made access to breaking news stories easier through the use of social networking applications, and even specially made apps for smartphones. Many news stations have set up social networks on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to help spread news faster to people who frequently check their phones for messages and social updates. All you have to do is hit 'Subscribe' and instead of making sure you're there to see the news, the news comes straight to you. What makes it even better is instead of waiting for the details and updates at a later time, you usually have the full story and updates right there as it happens, and from multiple sources. This can be for all kinds of news: weather updates, important stories on a local, national, and international scale, and sports scores for games; really, any kind of news you can think of is available. There's even a livestream of the hospital doors that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expected to be having their first baby at. I can be sure that as soon as they walk out of those doors the news will be exploding all over my news feed and I wouldn't have even had to consider watching the news to find out that night.

I've used my phone, and certain applications available on it, as a replacement for cable TV for quite some time. Why pay $70+ a month for cable packages when I can get a more organized set of TV shows available right on my phone for $8 a month? Sure, I have to sacrifice not being the first to see a brand new episode of my favorite TV show, but honestly, I'm willing to sacrifice that in order to save around $50+ a month. Over a year that adds up pretty quickly.

When it came to movies and TV, my phone had already replaced the traditional method. It comes as no surprise that catching news stories and segments have also been replaced with my smartphone as well. Even though basic cable doesn't cost anything to run per month, the convenience of being able to read or watch anything when I want, wherever I want is just one of many reasons that I truly love smartphone technology.

What about you, readers? Have you found that when it comes to news that you rely on your phone for updates rather than TV? Share your thoughts with me in the comments below!

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