Written By Gasper Ngono
Assuredly, technology has made many improvements in our lives but there are often some imperceptible signs demonstrating a real change in a society evolution. Eric Mpande, an Economy Digital consultant from a top e-commerce company and Yvonne Ngono, Behavioral Sociologist stand out the 4 signs of change in Africa thanks to or because of digital.
The signs do not lie, whether consequential or precursors. A traditionalist society merged with modernity always wins contributions on many plans, either negative or positive. So far to shift the balance on either case, these experts stand recurrent uses and their impacts in everyday life.
Connectivity to the world
“It has become the main driver of the workforce,” said Eric Mpande. All social classes meet there. Be connected to the world means exist. Social networks and e-mail, further boosted through the involvement of multimedia devices, has strengthened the links between people around the world. “It is not enough even to know a person to become” friends “with him/her. This is the principle of the internationalization of the world into a global village”, argues Yvonne Ngono.
Multimedia domination on human being
This would be the result of the first point. Individuals who have not been able to dominate the power of new technology have been dominated it. Their lifestyle is based on the human being mechanized prototype (in the past known as Taylorism). “All are connected to their mobile phone or behind their computer and they spend an average of six or eight hours per day without contact with the world around them. They are folded on themselves”, says Yvonne. According to her, multimedia makes human beings asocial. For Eric, it’s just the opposite: “the media helps to escape in this world full of chaos and disorder! This is the perfect outlet and soul sister of busy or isolated individuals. ”
Information
Everyone is unanimous with this point. There are so many websites, web resources, search engines that make access to the right information very accessible. “Just for example, go to wikipedia.org and do a search and find freely whereas before it was expensive,” says Yvonne. Workers, students and other craftsmen will not contradict it.
Possession of freedom and border crossing
This intangible value that is as precious as gold, is one of the most powerful arguments of multimedia. Rules and conventions have been broken thanks to the internet and multimedia in particular. According to studies conducted by Yvonne on behavioral interaction of people with internet, 6/10 respondents devote time to the sacred quest for freedom they feel stolen or restricted in the society to which they belong. “If they want to become superheroes; live a life they cannot know in the real world; breaking prohibited rules; feel to have control of the world, for them the internet and its tentacles are the golden resource, “says Yvonne.
The optimization and the creation of neo-industries
On this point, Africa continues its ascent and the steps already done are incredibly remarkable. Companies engaged in e-consulting, e-management, e-commerce, e-creation, e-development … have imploded between 2000 and 2014. Eric estimated at more than 990,000 structures. These have led to the birth of new entrepreneurial habits. “This is unheard-of. In Africa, if someone had told me that one day it would be possible to create a chocolate production industry with nothing but internet as I have seen in Kenya through the Sturdle Chocolate plc, I would not have believed. I give you the example of online purchase I’ve seen people buy and sell plantain as ever done in the market. It works in Africa. I just let you imagine possibilities”. With the involvement of incubators, the implementation of crowdfunding, competitions initiated by patrons and corporate citizens, e-businessmen are born every day on the continent.
The efficiency of skills not forgotten, several actions are developing. Objectively, between evolution and stagnation, technophiles and technophobes are “competing” for the evolution of a continent in constant transformation.
[signoff predefined=”Custom Signoff Box” icon=”username”]Gaspad Ngono is a Web Reporter & Editor; Artist & Multimedia Fan from Cameroon [/signoff]
Image Credit: commons.wikimedia.org
