For an African, a Smartphone is a Doctor, Banker, Teacher and Trader.

I believe human beings generally try to help the dying, but human beings and mobile technology can go a step further and actually help the living.

My thoughts are that humans have lived for a very long time without technology, but then technology came along and those not in the position to access it have vastly become forgotten. If the Saudi’s didn’t have oil, they maybe in the same predicament. If China didn’t have an over populated, under paid work force, same deal. 

One thing that was obvious to me when I went to Africa was that I complain about everything and I have everything, Africans complain about nothing and have nothing.  It is a defining period for people in developing countries. Countries’ that didn’t participate in the industrial revolution are literally dying off. Charles Darwin, in this case would say, “adapt or die.” But this is no longer so black and white. Pardon the pun. Two pivotal discoveries have merged together, the internet and mobile communication. While we here in the West use it for predominantly social and entertainment purposes, Africans use it to save and transform lives. The two things we take for granted, health and education,  is finally being accessed by the masses in impoverished countries. With over 700 million African subscribers of mobile phones, one can only imagine how many lives these magical devices can affect. 

Internet was and is amazing, but only few have access, Smartphones give every human this amazing access.  As we all know,’ knowledge is power.’

Clean water, food and education are what a lot of Africans need the most. Obtaining agricultural education through the mobile networks can aid in getting that food and water. Or even simply having an SMS message connecting you to other villages in times of need can make all the difference. Once self-sustenance and nutrition is under control, people can start educating their minds. Unfortunately there are not enough privileged humans directly helping the poor and uneducated. But indirectly, through computer chips and digital airwaves, the privileged can reach every nook and cranny of Africa and help give them the tools to be self-sufficient. This is the positive vision Rheingold has of the future, believing “that cyber  space would bring great democracy, equity and eliminate differences” (Rheingold, 2002). Let’s hope his optimism comes to fruition.

“According to the GSMA, Africa is now the second largest mobile market by connections after Asia and the fastest growing mobile market in the world” (GSMA Observatory report, 2011). This is an amazing statistic, considering that in the early 90’s mobile phones were seen as a status symbol and only used by the wealthy.  Donna Harraway’s vision of a cyborg society is often seen as part of modern society, but seldom thought of as being part of an agrarian one also. However theorists like Henry Jenkins  who put convergence culture under a broader microscope speculates that “we are mostly using collective power through our recreational life, but it has implications at all levels of our culture” (Jenkins, 2006). Therefore using a Smartphone is just the tip of the iceberg, it is really a constant gateway to the world in your pocket. Or a ‘body part’ or ‘appendage’ as Media Communications Lecturer Ingrid Richardson likes to put it. 

We have all heard the proverb, ‘give a man a fish, and feed him for a day, teach a man a fish and you feed him for lifetime.’ The same goes for Smartphones. “The Smartphone could provide the answer to educating those in remote areas, as tested by the University of Pretoria. Research carried out by the university indicated that 96% of the distance education students had access to mobile phones, while only 1% had access to the internet at home” (McMunn, R, 2013). Imagine if another Mozart, Leonardo Da Vinci or Einstein was born in Africa today.  Something as simple as a Smartphone could give him or her the mobile education to nourish his mental gift.

Whether it be “fishermen deciding which market is best for their catch, or what the market wants them to fish” or allowing “a client to pay in cash where they are and transmit it by phone to family or a business associate hundreds of miles away” or health workers from talking” to their base to seek advice, pass on news of patients' progress or ask for drug supplies” (Katine Chronicals, 2010), Smartphones are vastly becoming the life blood of some cultures. 

Over the last 100 years minority groups and the oppressed gained equal rights because they marched on the streets collectively and gained equality. In other words they had a voice and it was heard. Smartphones can hopefully give Africa a voice and a better life from here on in. 

Some things to ponder are:

1) Do you think Smartphones will allow African society to become more globally equal?

2) if so, do you think it will be drive a gap between ones that have Smartphones in African villages and cities, from those that can’t afford one?

Here is an interesting documentary to help you ponder : 

Hello Africa – Mobile phone culture in Africa. 

References

Africa Now the World’s Second Largest Network, 2011, GSMA, viewed 7 April 2013, http://www.gsma.com/newsroom/africa-now-the-worlds-second-largest-mobile-market-reports-gsma

Jenkins, H, 2006, Confessions of an Aca-Fan,  viewed April 2013, http://henryjenkins.org/2006/06/welcome_to_convergence_culture.html.

KatineChronicals – Are mobile phones Africa’s silver bullet? The Guardian,  2010, viewed 7 April 2013.

McMunn, R 2013, The Influence of New Smart phone Technology in Africa,  African Brains, viewed  7 April 2013, http://africanbrains.net/2013/03/27/the-influence-of-new-smart-phone-technology-on-education-in-africa-2/

Rheingold, H. 2002 The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier, MIT

Press Cambridge, Mass.

Image (1) http://gamblingandlosing.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/african-smartphone.jpeg

Image (2) http://www.timeslive.co.za/lifestyle/2012/05/03/mobile-revolution-smartphones-for-africa

Video (1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIGEg2PDbMA