Samenvatting

In this essay, the smartphone as a new technology and medium is analysed with regards to its effects on
individuals and society. McLuhan’s tetrad serves as a framework for analysis, consisting of a set of four
effects to examine media in their historical context and present environment as well as the characteris-tics
and attributes of the medium itself. These effects include: enhancement, obsolescence, retrieval, and
reversal.
The smartphone enhances the accessibility and convenience of the medium internet, which also accel-erates
the speed of real-time communication. Concerning obsolescence, the smartphone pushes feature
mobile phones aside as well as decreasing the use of personal computers and home printers. The smart-phone retrieves the use of cameras and (e-)books, reviving the linear focus on the medium. When pushed
to its extremes, the smartphone transforms into a new form reversing its original characteristics, with
imaginable evolvements being devices of Augmented Reality, (e.g. GoogleGlass), that might render its
users oblivious to their surrounding environment and thus actually restricting human interaction instead
of facilitating communication.
To sum up, the smartphone facilitates many aspects of daily life and can be a very useful and enter-taining tool.
Nevertheless, possible negative implications and social effects should be considered, like the
extreme cases of “smartphone addiction” or less human interaction.