Refugees and Smartphones

We usually think of refugees as some of the most wretched people, so desperate that they are willing to leave everything behind in the search for a new life.  A New York Times article says that they don't leave everything behind, though.  Many refugees find smartphones one of the few essential things that they take with them.  The Times details how refugees use smartphones to shares their routes with other refugees and access social media sites to connect with traffickers.  The Times quotes one refugee who sounds like a typical American, "I get stressed out when the battery even starts to get low.”  This article is a reminder of the extraordinary proliferation of smartphones.  Some people believe that smartphones are the most rapidly spreading technology in human history.  There are 2.6 billion smartphones in the world today.  Will this be a technology that empowers the poor of the world?  It is interesting to wonder whether so many people would be leaving their situations if they did not have information about other people's experience.  This widespread availability of information may be empowering some people, but it is putting stress on countries in new ways.