The real advancement here is in communication.
A smartphone connects you to the world. Reading publications, books, news, etc.
More portable than a tablet. A bit inconvenient but really powerful.
Then again even in the US with the world’s history in print and recorded sight and sound at your fingertips, most people wallow in ignorance of the past and present.
Even 15 years ago my brother commented about working in a poor village in central America. See some guy walking a donkey with a load of supplies while on his cell phone is really odd.
I read that in Haiti after the earthquake(?), storm(?) or both that the cell phone towers are the first thing the government gets running. So the government can provide soothing, false information and maintain control.