The wizarding world of Harry Potter is a truly magical place... but it's a little bit of an old-fashioned one, too, without computers, email, internet access, or social media. At the time the original books came out, of course, this was less of an issue, as the muggle world was still pre-social media and pre-smartphone, but now, it often seems as though real technology has sured the magic of the wizarding world.
Fans may argue that, as Hermione points out, modern technology isn't compatible with magic and wouldn't work, but it's hard to believe that muggle-born witches and wizards wouldn't find a way around that in the modern world. So what would the Hogwarts of 2021 look like, assuming magic was made smartphone compatible, and if the original characters were getting their letters today, how would the story of Harry Potter change?
Dobby Couldn't Steal Harry Potter's Letters
In more than one book, Harry is left frustrated over the course of the summer when he doesn't hear from his friends - and in The Chamber Of Secrets, it's revealed that his friends did write to him, but Dobby intercepted the letters. He was trying to prevent Harry from returning to Hogwarts, but it would presumably be a whole lot harder to get in the way of messages if Harry and his friends had smartphones. Similarly, when Hermione and Ron were at Grimmauld Place and told not to reveal too much in letters because they could be intercepted, they could have just... called.
Messaging Would Be Much Faster Than Owls (Or Patronuses)
The fastest ways to communicate in the wizarding world seem to be either by sending an owl (which seems to be surprisingly efficient, even though something like a version of the Knight Bus would seem more logical), or, in an emergency, it's possible to cast a patronus and send it ahead - but neither of these are perfect systems. With phones, though, wizards could just... text each other, and enjoy real instantaneous communication.
Harry Wouldn't Have Almost Missed His Hearing
When Harry was dragged in front of the court for producing a Patronus charm, the Minister attempted to pull a fast one, changing the time and location of the hearing at the last minute, so that Harry would miss it and be expelled.
As it happens, they made it just in time, but no thanks to the vagaries of owl-post. However, with smartphones, he would have simply received an email notification and known immediately.
They Wouldn't Need All That Parchment At The Ministry
Another aspect of ministry business that would change is the sheer volume of parchment used - and the flying inter-office memos. They might look magical, but if everyone had smartphones, the Ministry would probably have its own app, or everyone would just be on Slack, rather than sending parchment memos to each other all the time. Even the wand measuring for guests would likely use a phone app, not paper on a metal spike.
The DA Wouldn't Need A Coin
When Dumbledore's Army was formed, Hermione came up with an ingenious secret coin to show everyone when the next meeting was. It was a great way to do things, but if the students all had smartphones and social media, it would just need a secret group chat. Assuming Umbridge couldn't hack the phones, this would be significantly easier - if much less magical, of course.
Hermione Would Have Made A FB Group For SPEW
While it doesn't make it into the movies, in the books, Hermione is ionate about her own organization: SPEW. Created to try and fight for the rights of house elves (even if they don't want to be saved), she runs SPEW with a paper ledger and by bullying people into ing. In a modern world, she would create a social media group, probably an online petition, and start gaining some real traction.
Fred & George Would Dominate TikTok
Fred and George Weasley would undoubtedly become a success on any social media platform, but they would do particularly well with TikTok.
Their sense of humor and love of pranks would translate perfectly, and they would probably know just how to use it to sell all their products at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, too. That dragon firework stunt would have gone viral, for sure.
Ron Would Obsess Over Hermione's Relationship Status
Ron and Hermione eventually do end up together, but not without a lot of jealous back and forth on both sides. In a social media world, this would play out with them becoming obsessed over each other's relationship status online - especially when it comes to Hermione and Victor Krum! When Ron sees Victor still liking Hermione's posts, he would not be happy about it.
Draco Would Be An Instagram Rich Kid
Draco would definitely spend time showing off online, about all his amazing things, his amazing style, his rich lifestyle... but it would be fascinating to see how he would disappear from social media when he was tasked with killing Dumbledore. He might try and keep up the facade, or he might start to have a bit of a public meltdown.
Hogwarts Students Would Have Spell Hacks On TikTok
TikTok is an incredible place to find life hacks - and the wizarding world's TikTok would undoubtedly have hundreds of videos on spell hacks! Hermione's pronunciation correction on Levio-sah may have seemed annoying at the time, but turned into a useful video, she would probably end up racking up the followers...
