10 Things We Did Differently Before Smartphones (Throw Back)

Come to think of it, we did have a life before smartphones, and it was pretty cool, we survived. We sound off on our nostalgia for the days before smartphones ruled our world, much something that will never happen again and it’s kind of sad. Just go back a couple of years and read 10 awesome things we used to do in the absence of smartphones.

1. Carried GPS’s For Navigation. We actually carried around another device prior to having maps and directions on our Smart phones.
2. Carried Around Cameras. Because the camera on our non-smartphones were just not good enough. Even the Blackberry’s camera was not on point and that was most definitely a smartphone. It just wasn’t smart enough. We also used to store our pictures on our computers instead of on our phones.
3. Used CDs followed by MP3 players followed by iPods to store our music on. Now, people have music on their phones. We have music streaming services on phones. Why download a small number of songs when you can stream them all?
4. Checked our email on the computer, and only on the computer. So if you were out of the office, you were really out of the office. You could actually use the excuse “I wasn’t at a computer” if you missed an email or something because the only way you could get said email was on the computer.
5. Posted Pictures As They Are. Only a very select group of people re-touched their photos in Photoshop or MS Paint to make themselves look thinner and tanner. But now, there’s a whole app that does that for you.
6. Did The Math In Our Heads To Calculate The Tip At Restaurants. Unless someone had their TI-88 calculator with them, you had to solve that problem yourself.
7. Wrote Notes To Friends During Class And Shopping List On Paper. We couldn’t text people, or send them Snapchats, you had to send physical notes on real life paper. And we couldn’t put our shopping list in the “notes” section of our iPhones.
8. Use The Bank Or An ATM To Check Account Balance. You can now check your bank balances with your trusty banking app. Gone are the throw back days of going with your parents to the bank so they transfer money into your account.
9. Paid People Back With Cash. Now, you can pay people directly from your phone right away. No more chasing people down. Now it’s just instant pay.
10. Made plans with friends via AIM and later Facebook events.Every Friday you would put up an away message that said “What’s up for tonight?” and people would answer. Because, yes, there was a time before mass texts.