Life was a lot more difficult then

The only constant thing in life is change—sounds cheesy and cliché, but always on point. There are so many things that used to be considered the norm but aren’t anymore and we are so thankful for it. Does anyone even remember how life used to be like before smartphones and apps came into the picture?

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Manually checking movie schedules

Today’s children will never know what it was like to tear through a newspaper in search of the entertainment section and its vitally important movie schedule. But once upon a time, this was how we could check when those must-see films would show. Working backwards, we would schedule when to leave the house, when to purchase tickets and how much time we had to buy snacks.

But now we have apps like Click The City (iOS, Android) for our scheduling needs and GMovies (iOS, Android) for ticket purchasing. It’s made life easier and gets us great seats ahead of time.

Physically hailing a ride

It looks glamourous in movies, but hailing a taxi is anything but. And in Manila traffic, it’s practically impossible to get someone to agree to take you anywhere beyond a ten-minute drive. Standing in line at taxi lanes is fortunately now just one option out of many in ride-hailing and we aren’t stuck haggling for prices and “tips.”

Thank god for Grab (iOS, Android) and its convenient options, whether you want a private sedan, a private taxi, sedan or even a private SUV. Now we’re (relatively) less stressed and loads more comfortable.

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Ordering food over the phone

We all have our preferences, but ordering food via the phone is still one of life’s biggest nuisances. The hotlines are always busy, the operator always gets at least one order wrong and the menus we see online are never quite updated.

Food Panda (iOS, Android) is a life-saver, especially for those of us who are introverted. No more rings, no more annoying jingles and no more mistakes (unless they’re our own).

Pushing through malls

With the Christmas season upon us, the rush of people in malls is getting insane. We all know what it’s like having to push through crowds in order to get to the stores we’re eyeing; we know how quickly stocks run out. Today’s easy-peasy solution? Online shopping.

Thank god for online stores like Zalora that make shopping easier for everyone. We know exactly what’s there, place our orders and just wait for the delivery to come to us.

Counting the seconds we spent on the Internet

Internet cards—those scratch-to-use, slightly complicated and phone line-tying inventions—are thankfully a thing of the past, but once upon a time, they were practically currency. They gave us limited access to the World Wide Web and had us counting the minutes down to the seconds.

The Globe At Home All-In-One App (iOS, Android) is the newest and best way to manage your data usage. Whether you’re a postpaid or prepaid subscriber, the app correctly tracks and boosts your data in real time.

Some things really were a lot harder before, now that we think about it. Thank god they’re now just things of the past.