Mobile Phones, Africa, and the World: The Growth of the Internet in Sub-Saharan Africa

Mobile Phones, Africa, and the World: The Growth of the Internet in Sub-Saharan Africa

Do you remember life before the Internet? Every month you had to collect your bills together, write a check, put it in an envelope, affix a stamp, and send it in the mail. If you wanted to turn in a document for school. outside of writing it by hand,. you had to type it. If you wanted to make a copy of something, you had to use a ditto machine, or type it with carbon paper. If you made a mistake, break out a bottle of white-out to go over the mistake. 

Now, fast forward a few decades with people who have more computing power in their Mobile Phones that used by the Apollo astronauts to get to the moon. Smartphones have proliferated across the world as the way to access the Internet and use its services. Many websites that have been "desktop only" have been modified for the mobile screen, Technologies such as AMP increase the speed of delivery of rich internet applications to the smaller screen.

According to the Pew Research center: "Large majorities say the increasing use of the internet has had a good influence on education in their country, and a half or more say the same about the economy, personal relationships, and politics." (1)

"Across six major nations surveyed in the region, a median of 45% say the internet has had a positive impact on morality, while 39% say it is has been negative. These views vary substantially by country. For example, a majority of Nigerians (57%) believe the internet is having a good influence on morality, while more than half of Senegalese (54%) say the opposite. In Ghana today, 42% think that growing internet use has a positive effect on morality – up from 29% in 2014. Favorable assessments of the internet’s impact on economics and politics have risen even more over the same time period. For example, in 2017, around two-thirds of Nigerians (64%) said the increasing use of the internet had a positive influence on their country’s politics, compared with just 43% in 2014." (1)

"72% of Ghanaian internet users see economic benefits stemming from greater connectivity, compared with 54% of non-users, and the pattern is the same in Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria."

"The survey also finds that sub-Saharan Africans primarily use the internet and their mobile phones for social and entertainment purposes, though many also use their mobile devices for sending and receiving payments. Still, people are more likely to engage in nearly all activities – even basic ones like texting – if they have smartphones, suggesting the emergence of a new digital divide based on phone type. The survey also highlights long-standing digital divides along demographic lines: Higher-income, more-educated and younger people are consistently more likely to use the internet, own a smartphone and engage in social networking."

"The percentage of people who are online in each country is highly correlated with countries’ gross domestic product per capita (PPP). Regionally, internet use is lowest in sub-Saharan Africa, where a median of 41% across six countries uses the internet. South Africa (59%) is the only country in the region where at least half the population is online."

"In 2014, 15% of sub-Saharan Africans owned a smartphone, compared with 33% who own one today. The number of people connected to the internet is likely to continue to rise, too; industry projections suggest that the smartphone adoption rate in sub-Saharan Africa will double by 2025."

Having access to technology means that you can communicate with others around the world, send money securely, and gain access to a larger world.

That's it for today's blog. Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Bibliograpy

(1) http://www.pewglobal.org/2018/10/09/internet-connectivity-seen-as-having-positive-impact-on-life-in-sub-saharan-africa/