The Importance of a Neo-African Communitarianism in Virtual Space: An Ethical Inquiry for the African Teenager

Abstract

South Africa is a rapidly developing technological environment, where youth of all backgrounds have access to a smartphone. The South African community is, therefore, exposed to and also influenced by the world outside its borders and continent. This exposure and influence are premised on globalization and technology. This external influence has invited itself into the internal value system upon which African households have been historically and systematically built over many generations. These values find rest on the pillars of respecting elders [and others], belief in a higher power and community-centred life (communitarianism). The co-existence of these pillars and the external value system brought on by virtual ontology can potentially create a space of tension. Consequently, this tension perpetuates when exposure to the global village from virtual ontology occurs whilst the African teenager is within their African community upon which African values systems have been established. Without proper guidance, African teenagers consuming their time on smartphones can easily be alienated from African value systems and be immersed in the global village. Accordingly, the objective of this chapter is to analyse to what extent the African teenager as the consumer of a smartphone becomes alienated from their African value systems.