The .com Generation
Jerry Davison
Munozviziva here tateguru kuti kugeza kwava kunzi kuvhita
Mirioni yave kunzi mita
Nyama yave kunzi midheki?
The above - controversial rapper Alicious 'Maskiri" Musimbe's lyrics - are just but a grain of sand on a beach of developments that have shaped the Zimbabwean social scene since the days of our forefathers.
Gone is the drum beating way of communication that throbbed a quiet night, to be replaced by the telephone; only for the latter to give way to the cellular phone. It does not stop there.
What Maskiri forgot to tell the ancestors was the latest e-volution in communication that has taken Zimbabwe's young by storm and given rise to a generation far removed from its elders.
The internet.
As recently as the year 2000, only 50 000 Zimbabweans were internet literate. But now, with 1,2 million surfers, Zimbabwe is the eighth best in Africa, according to the website, worldstats.com, and the number is still growing.
South Africa tops the continent list with a massive 5,1 million users in March this year - a contribution of 15 percent to Africa's 33, 3 million tithe to the world's .com generation, estimated to have captured 1,112 billion hearts. The most populous country on the continent, Nigeria adds 5 million users to the total.
This tremendous growth, as far as the Zimbabwe Internet Service Providers Association is concerned, is due to the desire by the young generation to access the internet for educational and entertainment reasons.
Thulani Dzirikure, 21, from the Midlands State University, was not among the 50 000 internet fanatics in 2000. Actually, the Accounting major hardly knew a computer, let alone its functions.
Five years down the line, Thulani is among the front runners for most hours spent ogling at the World Wide Web (www)!
"I can hook up with my friends from everywhere on the globe, find entertainment and get a bit of education on the world economies, you know," Thulani smiled. "Just at the click of a finger."
The growth of internet cafes in Harare in this period to 30 plus and still counting is evidence to this phenomenon. The cafes have literally become today's youth's playground. Besides the movies, of course.
Not only that - the net can also be used get the latest news, buy and sell goods online, find information that is not available elsewhere, and also to look for jobs.
But therein lies the bane of the net; for these online job advertisements have been a deadly trap to lure unsuspecting prey. A few years back, a Zimbabwean woman was murdered in Kenya after responding to an employment advert on the internet.
There have been other cyber activities that have stirred debate on their legality, morality or otherwise. Cybersex - sexually graphic chats between people (who usually have never met) through the internet - falls into these debates.
"Cybersex is outright adultery," said one surfer who refused to be named. "Its pure pornography, and besides, you will never know whether the person at the other end of the line is of the opposite sex or not, or whether they are a child or not."
Cafes like ComOne have banned visits to 'dirty' pornography sites altogether.
Yet others use the same reason of anonymity to content that cybersex is innocent, pure and even does not expose one to the risk of acquiring HIV.
Child molesters are also said to stalk the web to prey on innocent children.
So the next time you are on the net and are met with a screaming message, "Wanna cyber?", you will know what are in for - boon or bane.
Overall, internet users in Zimbabwe have extolled on how the connectivity and the interactivity of the latest craze to hit town has given them a less expensive space to communicate with others, as compared to the phone whose charges keep galloping with the inflation.
The .com (internet) is my close friend," admits Itai Manyati of Cranborne. "Most of the times when I get lonely, I just log on to Yahoo, Google et al, and I will forget that the world exist during that time."
So if one uses the internet to forget the world's existence, what does it augur to the social fabric where people used to have live and lively conversations - has the net taken the place of physical presence?
In a way it has, Itai thinks. "But still the platform for debate and discussion has not disappeared because we can always meet in cyber space!" He was referring to an instance where he and other gospel enthusiasts have teamed into a group to discuss about their pet subject.
The same groups preside for soccer fans, romantics…actually if you log on to the net, you will find a group of people with a hobby just like yours indulging in the nitty gritties.
That is easy for urbanites to say.
In most of rural Zimbabwe life goes on - minus the internet. Almost all of the million-plus net users in Zimbabwe are based in urban areas where the bulk of the service providers are based. But, with the move by government to spread computers to rural schools, the nation might as well brace for another boom in the internet population.
And it should not surprise us to have, in the near future a situation where PCs in the household will be like kitchen utensils - a necessity.
So the next time you come you come to town, why don't you log on to http://www.zimpapers.co.zw - you might find this story on the internet!
Munozviziva here tateguru kuti kugeza kwava kunzi kuvhita
Mirioni yave kunzi mita
Nyama yave kunzi midheki?
The above - controversial rapper Alicious 'Maskiri" Musimbe's lyrics - are just but a grain of sand on a beach of developments that have shaped the Zimbabwean social scene since the days of our forefathers.
Gone is the drum beating way of communication that throbbed a quiet night, to be replaced by the telephone; only for the latter to give way to the cellular phone. It does not stop there.
What Maskiri forgot to tell the ancestors was the latest e-volution in communication that has taken Zimbabwe's young by storm and given rise to a generation far removed from its elders.
The internet.
As recently as the year 2000, only 50 000 Zimbabweans were internet literate. But now, with 1,2 million surfers, Zimbabwe is the eighth best in Africa, according to the website, worldstats.com, and the number is still growing.
South Africa tops the continent list with a massive 5,1 million users in March this year - a contribution of 15 percent to Africa's 33, 3 million tithe to the world's .com generation, estimated to have captured 1,112 billion hearts. The most populous country on the continent, Nigeria adds 5 million users to the total.
This tremendous growth, as far as the Zimbabwe Internet Service Providers Association is concerned, is due to the desire by the young generation to access the internet for educational and entertainment reasons.
Thulani Dzirikure, 21, from the Midlands State University, was not among the 50 000 internet fanatics in 2000. Actually, the Accounting major hardly knew a computer, let alone its functions.
Five years down the line, Thulani is among the front runners for most hours spent ogling at the World Wide Web (www)!
"I can hook up with my friends from everywhere on the globe, find entertainment and get a bit of education on the world economies, you know," Thulani smiled. "Just at the click of a finger."
The growth of internet cafes in Harare in this period to 30 plus and still counting is evidence to this phenomenon. The cafes have literally become today's youth's playground. Besides the movies, of course.
Not only that - the net can also be used get the latest news, buy and sell goods online, find information that is not available elsewhere, and also to look for jobs.
But therein lies the bane of the net; for these online job advertisements have been a deadly trap to lure unsuspecting prey. A few years back, a Zimbabwean woman was murdered in Kenya after responding to an employment advert on the internet.
There have been other cyber activities that have stirred debate on their legality, morality or otherwise. Cybersex - sexually graphic chats between people (who usually have never met) through the internet - falls into these debates.
"Cybersex is outright adultery," said one surfer who refused to be named. "Its pure pornography, and besides, you will never know whether the person at the other end of the line is of the opposite sex or not, or whether they are a child or not."
Cafes like ComOne have banned visits to 'dirty' pornography sites altogether.
Yet others use the same reason of anonymity to content that cybersex is innocent, pure and even does not expose one to the risk of acquiring HIV.
Child molesters are also said to stalk the web to prey on innocent children.
So the next time you are on the net and are met with a screaming message, "Wanna cyber?", you will know what are in for - boon or bane.
Overall, internet users in Zimbabwe have extolled on how the connectivity and the interactivity of the latest craze to hit town has given them a less expensive space to communicate with others, as compared to the phone whose charges keep galloping with the inflation.
The .com (internet) is my close friend," admits Itai Manyati of Cranborne. "Most of the times when I get lonely, I just log on to Yahoo, Google et al, and I will forget that the world exist during that time."
So if one uses the internet to forget the world's existence, what does it augur to the social fabric where people used to have live and lively conversations - has the net taken the place of physical presence?
In a way it has, Itai thinks. "But still the platform for debate and discussion has not disappeared because we can always meet in cyber space!" He was referring to an instance where he and other gospel enthusiasts have teamed into a group to discuss about their pet subject.
The same groups preside for soccer fans, romantics…actually if you log on to the net, you will find a group of people with a hobby just like yours indulging in the nitty gritties.
That is easy for urbanites to say.
In most of rural Zimbabwe life goes on - minus the internet. Almost all of the million-plus net users in Zimbabwe are based in urban areas where the bulk of the service providers are based. But, with the move by government to spread computers to rural schools, the nation might as well brace for another boom in the internet population.
And it should not surprise us to have, in the near future a situation where PCs in the household will be like kitchen utensils - a necessity.
So the next time you come you come to town, why don't you log on to http://www.zimpapers.co.zw - you might find this story on the internet!
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