The Nexus Between Youth and Mobile Phones in Botswana

Almost two decades since the advent of mobile telephony countrywide, Botswana has recorded a significant growth in mobile phone subscription and use. In all the villages, towns, and cities across Botswana, many adolescents, adults, and elderly people own and use a mobile phone. In its 2021 report, the Botswana Communications and Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) documented that mobile phone subscription across Botswana’s three network operators, BTC beMobile, Mascom, and Orange, had increased dramatically from 2,953,116 in 2012 to 3,876,773 subscribers among a population of around 2.3 million (Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority Telecommunications Statistics. Gaborone; 2021). High mobile phone adoption in Botswana is a result of both the local networks’ and the Botswana government’s commitment to diffuse network signals to many places countrywide (Lesitaokana, Journal of New Media and Society 16:840-855, 2014). For instance, the local networks have continued to extend mobile phone signals and mobile-enabled services countrywide, while the Botswana government has committed itself to networking the villages that have been underserved by the local networks. Subsequently, young people in Botswana continued to adopt mobile phones, as the devices promise them extensive connectedness with their family, relatives, and friends, and also use them to access public and social services, including mobile broadband Internet. Nonetheless, as part of young people’s interactive relationship with mobile phones, the devices also influence cultural practices and inappropriate behaviors among youth. Given this situation, we are presented with an ideal opportunity to study both the socioeconomic importance and the cultural implications of the mobile phone in the Botswana context, as this will add to the sociological literature of the nexus between youth and mobile communication technology.