Internet and online media usage on mobile phones among low-income urban youth in Cape Town

Cell phones introduce a range of new possibilities for social networking and communication, media use and production, political activism, as well as education. Young people in South Africa have adopted a range of innovative communicative practices, notably those which exploit low-cost mobile applications, as well as a growing host of rich-media and Internet-based applications. Until now, little quantitative data has been available to describe exactly to what extent and how young people access and use cell phones. This paper reports an extensive study, which surveyed 500 students from very low-income areas in Cape Town, South Africa. The students reported intensive use of cell phones, at a level which overshadows their use of less widely accessible technologies such as desktop computers. Notably, the extensive use of mobile Internet applications which students reported shows that many young urban South Africans first access the Internet via their phones, and that their concepts of the Internet and media in general are consequently strongly shaped by a distinct set of mobile applications. An exploratory technology usage approach was chosen to determine the extent to which very specific cell phone applications are used. An extensive questionnaire was distributed to students fro