Cognition adrift: the emerging horizon of unreason

This article explores a range of issues relating to the use of smartphones, a versatile and unique cognitive-technological medium, the widespread adoption of which amongst the global population is unrivalled, and which is the first of its kind to profoundly influence and transform individual and collective cognition. How? To what extent? With what consequences? Drawing on the work of Marshall McLuhan, and illustrated with numerous examples – some of which are only briefly, or not sufficiently, developed and analysed – the article concludes with a call for an interdisciplinary research programme aimed at collectively studying the effects of this medium on cognition and society.