My phone's affect on my traveling

I have generally accepted that as long as I have a good map that I know how to read I am never lost.  I still keep a print map with me when visiting a new city if possible, and Streetwise Maps are the best ones for me, but Google maps on my iPhone makes that less and less necessary.  I save all the important locations in town, look up new ones as I necessary (sometimes I just need pizza), and wander aimlessly without ever being lost.  It costs a little to use the data, but if I'd rather not pay that I can just download the maps of the cities before I leave or whenever I find wifi.  The biggest worry is that the battery might run out. I carry my charger everywhere and recharge whenever I can, which is admittedly a bit of a nuisance.  It also shows that my explorations are usually of cities.  However, I hiked all around the Lake District and along Hadrian's Wall using the phone's map to show me where I was.  I got myself a backup battery so I could venture longer and farther.  I make sure to have a print map, but it's become a backup and a planning tool.

During this past trip to Spain, I used Google maps to find food, plan walking routes, find appropriate buses to get me to airports, and even check out street views so I'd know what to look for when I got to the hostel.  Apart from using Google Maps, I also used my phone to check hotel prices when I considered rebooking, check hostel facilities, take pictures, hold boarding passes (only Ryanair didn't allow this), read up on the history illuminated in museums I visited, check opening hours and costs of said museums, and check wikivoyage for more suggestions of places to visit.  Plenty of travelers still swear by tour books and whatnot, and they'd probably call me lazy for relying on my phone so much.  They might be right, but I love the fact that I have the option to be lazy.  It's one reason I can relax so much when I'm traveling, so long as I stay paranoid about keeping an eye on my phone.  Losing that thing would pose an incredible challenge. 

One random advantage I learned about using my phone came when I lost my glasses while hiking in Wales.  I couldn't read a thing, but thankfully I could enlarge the text without scrounging around for a magnifying glass.