Q And A With Ramon Thomas On Cellphone-Based Social Networking Platforms In SA

Ramon Thomas heads up Netucation, a Johannesburg-based company that does research on the impact of technology on people and relationships.

He has worked in IT Security in South Africa, England and United Arab Emirates for many years. This experience gives him unique insights into how the online world can impact on children, “the most innocent of Internet users,” he says.

How many young people use MXit or other cellphone-based social networking platforms in South Africa?

MXit has over 4 million users, growing at about 10 000 new users per day. I think this growth is going to accelerate as they expand internationally. Mig33 has become a very popular alternative to MXit and there are also several WAP-based chat services like Rivotext and others parents should be aware of. It's important to understand that many of these services are international and so it's almost impossible to get the South African numbers. My estimate would be that maybe 6-8 million children are accessing premium content items.[SA has a total population of 46 million.] What are the 3 most important trends emerging as young people interact with new technologies?

Accelerated development - This can be positive as hand/eye co-ordination is developed when playing computer games, and negative in terms of relationships between teenagers who are just beginning to understand male/female dynamics in the context of sexual relationships and roles.

There is also a strong impact on early childhood development. As a result, I am moving toward full agreement with Clifford Stoll's (author of High-Tech Heretic) views that computers should be not be available to very young children so they can have normal development of cognitive functions.

Lack of Netiquette and Social Skills- There is now a whole generation of children who grew up in a world where cellphones have always been available. These kids struggle to adjust in social situations that do not require cellphones. There is also tremendous conflict in what is deemed acceptable between children and their parents. They are almost two to three lifetimes apart.

User generated content - This is the bane of traditional media companies. Users, with teenagers leading the way, are populating profiles on social networking websites with an almost unlimited amount of written, audio, photo and video content.

The content is self-produced, and every now and then of a superior quality to anything available on network television. This is leading to a huge shift in the consumption of media.

What is the trend that is uniquely African people need to pay attention to?

The biggest trend across Africa is the substantial growth in localised, regionalised and cultural specific content, translated into local languages. This is where Africa has always been left out and left behind. However, the "cheetah generation" as described by George Ayittey is going to make a meaningful difference in that aspect.

What are the three most risky behaviours that children engage in while online? Why do they engage in these behaviours?

a) Children have no idea of personal privacy. So they frequently exchange cellphone numbers in public chat rooms on MXit. They seem to ignore the fact that other people are watching and seeing this information being exchanged.

I think they do this because they don't see the consequence as immediate or real. It's supposed to be anonymous because it's a chat room.

b) Children accept invitations from strangers to connect and communicate on MXit and websites like Facebook. So in the context of social networking websites you must be findable. The problem is that there is no discretion on how to decide who to approve as a friend/connection/contact or not. Parents need to go back to basics about not talking to strangers even online. Just remind them constantly.

c)They post too many photos in public profiles. This is happening at an alarming rate on MySpace and Facebook. There is again no discretion as to what is acceptable amount of photos or not. So it's not even that the photos are explicit in any way. It's that these photos provide enough details for predators to use against the victims. MySpace has some excellent filters to protect minors from being contacted by older people. Others can learn from them on how to co-operate with government and law enforcement.

How much involvement do/should parents have in their children’s use of new media?

In cases where parents have limited knowledge of technology, they should use the infrastructure from the schools to increase their own education/training and awareness of technology.

However, parents should not expect this to be driven by schools. They should be proactive in communicating the need for increased awareness of technology.

Would an education campaign/the provision of educational materials assist young people in keeping safe, or do we need other interventions? What are these interventions?

Other than educational materials, we also need to train peer counsellors. They could be current and future prefects who can handle first level problems before passing more severe problems onto more qualified experts.

What are some of the projects you have in the pipeline that will help South African children to be safer online?

I am working on bring www.wiredSafety.org programs into South Africa. I've completed my initial training with them and am now moving into more advanced and specific training. Much of what is need has been developed and refined by them. They are the biggest group dedicated to online safety with over 9000 volunteers worldwide.

I'm also going to work with Childline/Lifeline to provide training to their counsellors on the technology side of problems experienced children.

Damaria Senne is a journalist and author based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She writes about the telecommunications industry in South Africa and Africa, including cellular, mobile and wireless technologies and messaging news and trends. Damaria is also an author and would like to write books that inform, educate, empower and entertain for parents and children.