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Smartphones and social media
iPhone 2007 (Facebook 2004)· Invention or discovery· Global
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Pocket computers with internet access, popularized by Apple's 2007 iPhone, which made social media a constant part of daily life.
See it on the History map →What happened
Phones with email existed, notably BlackBerry, but the iPhone (2007) combined a touchscreen, a real web browser and, from 2008, an app store. Google's Android followed, and Korea's Samsung became one of the two biggest makers. Facebook (2004), YouTube (2005) and Twitter (2006) moved onto phones, joined by Instagram, WhatsApp and WeChat. By the mid-2020s about 4.5 billion people owned smartphones.
Why it matters
They put the internet, a camera and GPS in nearly every pocket, created industries like ride-hailing, and changed how people shop, work, organize and get news.
How we know
Sales and usage data from industry trackers and the ITU, company filings, and a growing body of research on effects on attention and mental health.
Still debated
Whether heavy smartphone and social media use is driving rising anxiety and depression among teenagers is hotly debated among researchers.
Connections (2)
▸World Wide Web and the internet age went mobile with Smartphones and social mediaWell documented
The connection
Smartphones put the Web in every pocket. Fast mobile networks (3G, then 4G) and the iPhone's full browser made the mobile internet practical. Today most web traffic comes from phones, and in many countries people skipped home computers entirely, going online first by phone.
When and how
From 2007; 4G networks spread from about 2010; mobile overtook desktop web traffic worldwide around 2016.
How we know
Web traffic data from firms such as StatCounter, and ITU surveys, document the shift to mobile.
Debates and open questions
Some argue apps replaced the open web with closed platforms run by Apple, Google and a few others; how much that matters is debated.
▸Smartphones and social media helped organize the Arab SpringMostly agreed
The connection
Protesters used phones to film police abuse, spread video on Facebook and YouTube, and call demonstrations on Twitter. Footage from Tunisia spread across the region, often rebroadcast by Al Jazeera. Egypt's government cut off the internet for about five days in January 2011, showing how threatening it found these tools.
When and how
Tunisia and Egypt, December 2010 to February 2011; the Egyptian Facebook page 'We Are All Khaled Said', co-run by Google employee Wael Ghonim.
How sure are we?
Social media data and protester accounts show heavy use; studies of Twitter traffic tracked calls to protest before major demonstrations.
Debates and open questions
Scholars debate whether social media caused the uprisings or just helped; satellite TV, unemployment and food prices may have mattered more. Regimes also used it to track dissidents.