Social media use among the youth and working class: Conditions for remediating globalization and cultural space

Abstract

In the last three centuries, the invention of information sharing channels such as the telephone, radio, computer, television, and the internet and major socioeconomic global occurrences like World I and II, the Hollocaust, and the Great Depression, cosmopolitan cultures have been transformed on a massive scale and indigenous communities have been forced to adapt to the changes. Meanwhile, the inventors of communication technologies and information consumers (businesses and publics) continue to experience the media role in shaping global process. It is understood that the media is stunningly effective in facilitating cultural exchange and transnational flows of information and images through news broadcasts, television programming, and innovations in information technologies thereby fostering hybrid glocal communities in landscapes hitherto unknown. In developing countries, many young people now have access to social media platforms. However, it is not clear whether their use of such technology is preventing them from following their local customs or advancing the drive to compete for opportunities in the world. Using available e-texts and bound documents, this chapter analyzes the extra personal socialization styles among the youth in Africa, drawing cases from articles on social media use. It also uses a purposive sampling of gadget users in rural–urban areas in Cameroon, Morocco, Malawi, Nigeria, Zambia, and South Africa are sampled using open and close-ended questions. This study reveals devices that were more likely to deepen their understanding of and participation in the globalization process, the iPhone or the internet and the reasons; whether the “internal socialization,” “inter—extra personal socialization” or “personal advancement” is the primary reason for ownership of the devices.