Mobiles + Mxit = ☺

Photo of a mobile phone kiosk in South Africa

Foto: © Shaul Schwarz/Getty Images

Mobiles + Mxit = ☺

Before you read

What kind of mobile phones do most of your friends have, and what do they use them for? Do young people use their phones for different things than adults? You have two minutes. Write down your thoughts. Do not stop to correct or change anything. Just write as much as you can!

Mobiles + Mxit = ☺

How many South Africans have access to a mobile phone? The answer may surprise you. It’s about 90%, which is more than the number of people who have access to clean drinking water. Only 6% have a landline, so mobile technology is changing everyone’s life. From poor people in shantytowns on the edge of Pretoria to the richest person in a luxurious house behind security gates. From farmers living in mud huts to the middle-class engineer working in a multinational business.

Mobile phones have also dramatically changed the way young people live. 72% of young people in South Africa between the ages of 15 and 24 had mobile phones in 2014. This gives them independence, a way of connecting with the wider world and it also gives some of them a job. You’ll often see youngsters working in mobile phone kiosks. Here you can buy airtime, the name given to texts and calls in South Africa. They can also unlock, repair and charge your mobile for you. Not everyone has a home with electricity.

What kind of mobiles do young people have in South Africa? They’re just as interested in the latest phones as you are, but they rarely have as much money as teenagers in Norway. Computers, laptops and tablets are expensive to buy and data use can be very expensive and isn’t available everywhere. Going online on a mobile is much cheaper. But the latest smartphones are only for those who are well off. The average South African teenager certainly can’t afford unlimited calls and gigabytes of data. Most have a simpler phone and use pre-paid services instead. That way they know how much they have to spend and there’s no minimum amount.

Because there are so many people with mobiles, but who can’t afford to buy a lot of data, a number of cheap services have sprung up. There’s a text-only version of Facebook, for example, and then there’s Mxit. This is a service that offers free messaging, chat rooms, games and other things. Young people use it to talk to their friends and family, and some use it to find a date. You can also buy products on it – that’s why it’s free. It’s advertising which pays for the service. Mxit is exceedingly popular, not just with young people, but also with many companies. Just think of the money they can earn if an advertisement goes viral!