Dialogue on Mxit: it's uses and abuses

Perhaps it's because at the heart of Mxit sit entrepreneurs. Entreprising individuals who have as their foremost interest, to innnovate. Be it in solving a business or social problem. I was rather caught off-guard that Chris Coetzee, a keen researcher on Mxit, invited me to air my thoughts on the social networking technology. This was following my two open-ended entries about Mxit and its impact on the social fabric.

I'm always one who believes that dialogue, when facing any sort of problem, is extremely good and can lead to solutions never thought of by separately thinking parties. The following is my are my further thoughts on Mxit that were invited by Chris on this blog:


"Dear Chris,

Thank you very much for your interest in inviting and hearing my thoughts. Such dialogue is much appreciated.

First, I must let you know that, contrary to the impression that may have been created by my blog entries, I, like many others, am impressed with Mxit as a technology and a tool for empowering the consumer, especially in the backdrop of steep, rip off prices from the three corroborating oligarchs. And the many positive uses of Mxit are obvious and adored.

My views, as invited, are as follows:

• Mxit has a higher chance, in its current use-model, of side effects that outweigh the economic and social benefits it provides.
• It transforms the time that was previously devoted to other necessary activities, such as reading; studying; in-person conversing and 'living' of such teenagers, into wasted time chatting.
• It halves the efforts of the paedophiles and provides them with an easy access to the many innocent girls.
  It's model, of a near-free access, makes it all that easy to aquire and therefore increases the scale or scope of the potential victims that paedophiles can access.
• With the latest 'multimedia' enabled version of Mxit, I have no doubt that more nude, and pornographic pictures of both young and innocent boys and girls will circulate.
• Parents are touted to be the solution. That they must police their kids. This will not work towards a long lasting creative solution. The solution must lie within the technology and its model (or access), if not with greater social responsibility program.
• As I've wishingly suggested, attaching an adjusted but fair price (yet cheap) to Mxit can somewhat entice responsible use.
• Another thought is that, what you pay for, you will not abuse freely. In a way I must say.
• For the solution, or just an adjustment, one could look at the reason why SMS doesn't experience or attract as much abuse.
• As part of Mxit social responsibility, particularly since it enjoys such wide and pervasive support, you may embark on an intensive public awareness campaign.
• The above can be done in alliance with other technology-interest groups - social or business.
• Depending on the potential dent to your coffers, one could embark on popular media campaign, PR (to target parents) various, road trips to schools and other places.
• The above would be done in the interest of educating both the user and the parent, teacher, guardian, relative and friends of such a user, of the potential abuses and side effects of the technology and how members of the community can spot changing behaviour in the user.
• At the same time, one could make them aware of the need for the users independent responsibility, that ultimately, they must police themselves.

Nevertheless, I still believe that a different pricing model would have better results although I'm concerned about the viability of that for your business. My further suggestion is that the latter should work together with the awareness campaign so that the user can be aware, especially at their tender and 'gullible' age, of the potential dangers of their abuse (or gullibility thereof) stemming from lack of responsibility or proper awareness.

The aim, rather than to be anti-Mxit or any other consumer-benefit driven technology (like government is), is to be socially responsible. This is imperative because the amazinly unscrutinising users of such technology are at a stage in their lives where they are absorbing many teachings that must build them into the responsible and smart leaders of tomorrow. A tomorrow which will be dominated by technology that must, again, be used in a socially responsible manner that must yield its benefits for the good of society than the other way around.

Please note that I focused this specifically on the age group of the popular user of Mxit, which the Sunday Times claimed to be 12-17.

Thank you for this opportunity for dialogue Chris. Much appreciated once again.

Regards,
Israel Mlambo"

The two previous entries here:

• http://izzonline.blogspot.com/2007/05/mxit-is-like-inescapable-crack.html
• http://izzonline.blogspot.com/2007/04/mxit-culture-fcuked-generation.html

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"Judge of a man by his questions, rather than by his answers." - Voltaire

MXiT is like inescapable crack

It is reported that ‘a recent survey conducted on MXiT, found that sex was the biggest topic of discussion on MXiT and that it outweighed by more than 70% chats about sport, hobbies, education, jokes or politics.

So it’s simple. Be freedom of speech and pro-tech like me, but we have to agree that people flirt for sex on that thing.

GenerationX or is it GenerationMXiT Up?
For the youth, especially the 12-17 majority users group quoted by the Sunday Times GenerationX survey, MXiT is the in thing. “MXing it up is all the rage”. Because it’s cheap and these teens can misuse their time effectively with that Stellenbosch developed software. As I've written before here, MXiT culture, unfortunately, breeds a fcuked generation.

The Sunday Times did an extensive coverage of this new technology (they also tend to mention blogs a lot these days in their paper. Kudos for this one) and in fact, in praise of it as the new in thing for the kids. The benefits of it were weighed heavier in their articles than the side effects which are a lot more significant than the incentives - particularly in the survey supplement.


‘4 million’ logons a day, 10 000 new users daily
We just got to face it, even us who love and embrace new technologies and empowering the consumer, something’s just destroy the fabric of society and our cultures. Like I said before, MXiT takes the majority time of the kids (and surprisingly, some grown ups). Especially the ones who don't really understand the potential dangers of something that offers easy-come incentives. Talk of crack cocaine. The paper states that there are around 5 million logons a day, and a blog claiming that there are 10 000 new users daily. The virus is spreading fast, in the name of freedom of speech, consumer empowerment and cheap – and profit of course, for the developer.

Conversations become cybertic
Teens are spending more time on MXiT than really talking, naturally breaking bread with friends and family. The conversation, as we know, is moving to be cybertic in nature. Whether that's a good thing or not, depends on who benefits or is already addicted or is high on 'freedom of speech' as though they sniffed crack for too long than necessary.


The card of freedom of speech must be played when it makes sense and balances things in an equally beneficial manner. Not simply because freedom of speech is an important part of human interaction and communication. As I said in my first MXiT entry, you can't support something for the sake of supporting it or that it’s innovative technology. Some cultural disruptive technologies need not be or have to be regulated (read: regulated, not censored).


As worries of destruction cut into mainstream media parents are seeing smoke. Not that he meant bad when he gave birth to it. He just wanted, probably, too empower the consumer and open up communication platform whilst making money at it through bringing an audience together and selling their souls to the advertisers. But he knows, surely, that the side effects now outweigh the consumer's gain.


He claims that '95% of MXiT four million users employ the software as a replacement to SMS'. That to me, just sounds like bollocks supported by statistics. Why isn't he explaining, not that he is due to, that at the same time, such replacement takes a different form and incentive. With MXiT, the incentive is that you pick cyber girlfriends and boyfriends over the net and do whatever with them. What a perfect hunting field for the paedophile.


Flirting just like cybering on American ‘sex sites’
And most friends I have spoken to use if for flirting online (I know many also use it for replacement of costly SMS). And my little brothers are collecting 'hot' chics on MXiT like cheap sweets. However, Heunis distances himself from the reality that MXiT facilitates real life profile and cellphone number exchange where innocent and incautious teens swap such with paedophiles. See Sunday Times’ ‘MXiT at centre of nude teen photos uproar’ for more digital shock. MXiT version 5.1.1 is even a lot more advanced that picture exchanges will be done instantly on the chat program.


Paedophiles galore, a den of sick hornies let lose
Think of what happened last year. A 33-year old paedophile abducting an innocent 16-year old girl using tactics via MXiT. I'm sure many little girls out there believe to be chatting with peers but in fact it’s sometimes criminal-intent older men who are trying to lure them, if not simply introducing them to what they shouldn’t be at their innocent age


Brother’s confiscated multimedia phone
My sister had to confiscate my little brother’s phone just recently, after he stopped demonstrating his love for magazines and reading in general, and spending less and less time on his school books. He tells me he had 11 girlfriends on MXiT. All with pictures. Some sexy and scantily clad bodies. The girls looked her age, but fact remains, they are half naked. And there was porn too from Mig33 and peperonity.com.


Solutions?
Government can’t do much about it. Parents can’t succeed if they keep buying their kids hi-multimedia capability cellphones and expect flirts and porn not to happen on that hi-tech tool. I think that what Heunis has to think of doing, in the interest of preserving the safety of these girls, is to up the cost of using MXiT. Economic and marketing research has long shown that where anything is free and ‘useful’, it will soar in demand. Where a product is useful and price is up, then the demand will be less. He must not place it at the SMS benchmark, but at least to deter free access, which is the one that leads to abuse.

May be I’m digitally shocked with MXiT because I have brought two daughters in this world. And when things like these happen, it’s the girls that get hardest hit and abused and the price they pay is too high. And for the little boys, some paedophiles now prefer them too. And for the ‘freedom of speech’ card waving adults, your culture of natural interaction might slip off your life.

Or better still, and not that it's their problem, but may be Vodacom, MTN and Cell C should make SMS cheaper to cancel out MXiT's culturally distasteful advantage. They could make their SMS a bit lower without going straight flat on the ground as to render them free like MXiT (and I'm aware you pay for data transfers).

MXiT Culture: A Fcuked Generation

There's this one 'THING' called MXiT (m-x-i-t, which I just pronounce 'mix it'). It's a chat technology on wap with several rooms and free messaging services. I have serious problems with it. One being that I failed dismally several times, when I tried to load it to my phone. Two, and bigger reason here: I frankly think that it is one of the biggest 'shitwaves' to have hit my generation.

MXiT has seen the normal culture pillars being partially, if not to large degree, eroded in those who use it. Some people who use this cellphone technology have become so taken aback by it that they start to seem like zombies glued to a little mobile machine. All they do is just stare at their screen nearly the entire time in the midst of other people and are oblivious to the need for any live human interaction.

Pity that the majority of those who abuse - or to put it more bluntly - get abused by this types of technologies are kids. These days, kids as young as eight - to be safe on my guess - have multimedia-capable cellphones coming with wap. The very capability of these advanced phones forces them to find ways of taking advantage of every imagineable use of this gadgets. And at most, they lose time with real simple cultural learnings like going about good live human interactions with their mates or even better, with their families.

I noticed this addiction to the cellphone, and more so, to MXiT and other wap chats such as Reporo - which I was able to download and confirm some of my fears - whilst I was in the village two weeks ago. My little brothers were all but oblivious to whatever was going on around them as they were busy chatting away the next 'hot babe' on their cellphones, smiles wide as that of a croc. Forget the chores mommy asks them to do. Never mind the homeworks. No more average physical activity. Playing is non-existent in their days. All they ever wanna do is get the next 'hot babe' and flirt on their phones, if not so, they would be waiting for the 'hottie' to MMS her picture.

In my teens or earlier age, all we did was play, homework, house chores, play and then more play (read: interactions with live humans - not machines with strangers and psychos on the other end). We learnt to appreciate relationships. We learnt ways of conversing with others, mainly our friends and people outside our immediate circle. But my brothers and their specific part of this generation have their minds controlled by the cellphone chat sites that are only effectively alluring to them because there are 'hot babes' on the other end.

This is, without doubt, from nowforth going to be a fcuked generation. Them, and I only use them as more of my observation, are going to lose out on so much that the other generations gained. There will be all sorts of chaotic behaviours and deficiencies of common sensical stuff coming out of them in time. And sincerely feel pity for them, especially since they are convinced that it is harmless and equal to having a one-on-one conversation or playing with other teens or kids around. Well, it's all gonna turn out to be a totally fcuked generation.

I will be blogging a lot more on this issue as I feel it is very important.

I'm headed back to the village to see what other sites they have discovered that claim to give them an opportunity to meet the world and make many friends.

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"Judge of a man by his questions, rather than by his answers." - Voltaire