1.      Introduction

Today, literature on youth is no longer unique or exclusive; it is a field subject to extensive study. The United Nations in particular have and continue to make various initiatives to improve youth status and to promote the understanding of youth needs among society and country leaders. In order to ensure that the “youth” group is correctly targeted, a clear definition of youth has been provided by the United Nations; “they are people between the ages of 15 and 25”. In this present time the issues faced by and stemming from youth are topping the agendas of most countries. Many countries have in fact come to realise that youth could damage a country’s image and future if their growth and development are left unchecked. Conversely, with proper assistance and guidance, youth could be the prime motivator for economic expansion and progress.

This paper focuses on one aspect of youth capability, the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to bridge the cultural divide. One particular ICT this paper focuses on is the mobile phone. Currently, among all ICT devices, the mobile phone is the most preferred by youth. This paper proposes that mobile phones could be used as a device to incrementally dilute the deep cultural divide currently prevalent in most societies. This paper is hinged on the viewpoint that a nation’s youth segment in general tends to exhibit greater levels of energy and enthusiasm than adults.  However this paper further acknowledges that youth are often caught in a complex web of cultural and moral values that are endemic to the environment they are brought up in, whether cities or villages. The consequences of this being that youth will automatically succumb to the activities, ideologies and behavior patterns of these environments, believing that they are social norms and thus the only best way. Interestingly, this ‘imprisonment of the mind’ could occur in societies with ample access to electronic media such as CNN, CNBC, CBS, Al-Jazeera, etc. The consequences of confused and diverted intrusion are two-fold, firstly, there is the creation of fanatical youth who think and talk in a manner they perceive to be socially expected, thus warranting the social acceptance they desire. Secondly, it propagates the creation of mindless youth who prefer to live in an unreal fantasy world; fantasizing about the lives of celebrities and T.V. heroes/heroines for example.

This paper is founded on the belief that unprecedented advancements in ICT, particularly in the field of telecommunication devices such as the mobile phone, could facilitate a dramatic paradigm shift among youth. This would in turn facilitate progress towards the long-term development of nations. Further more this paper is founded on the view that the key to developing more positive youth mindsets lies in interactions with people beyond the limitations of their own village, city or even country. An appreciation of such diversity would help youth foster a concept of reality beyond their own sphere of existence.  

In the words of the United Nations: “Young people in all countries are both a major human resource for development and key agents for social change, economic development and technological innovation. Their imagination, ideals, considerable energies and vision are essential for the continuing development of the societies in which they live.” (United Nations: 1996)  

The capability of mobile phones to bridge social-economic divide is no longer a mystery, even in developing countries. In Malaysia for example, one could observe that farmers, fishermen, hawkers, small business owners and average citizens alike use mobile phones to communicate. From an economic perspective, mobile phones have enabled small business owners in remote areas to promote their products and communicate with their customers effectively. In Malaysia, for instance, one could observe that many homemade signs along streets (including tiny villages that have no electrical service delivery) list mobile phone numbers offering services ranging from baby-sitting and house cleaning to property sales and rentals. Mobile phones have contributed to the empowerment of small farmers and business owners by giving them access to information outside their current geographic areas. Therefore issues pertaining to market prices, which previously took days by boat or foot in the remote areas of Sabah and Sarawak (East Malaysia) to obtain, are resolved much faster. Such empowerment through information also reduces dependency on intermediaries and the transaction costs involved. This would in effect restructure the value chain by reducing and eliminating intermediaries in the process, arguably allowing the savings to be passed on to the end consumers. Another economic advantage of the mobile phone is its contribution towards increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of small business owners through the facilitation of rapid information and contact exchange.  

However, there are notable disadvantages that coincide with the numerous benefits that mobile phone technology has brought about within society. For instance mobile phones allow greater coordination within organized crime networks thus enabling them to evade law enforcement with greater precision e.g. evading piracy raids. However, there is little to be gained through prolonged emphasis on the detrimental effects of mobile phone technology as potentially any form of technology can be potentially abused. This paper proposes a proactive outlook towards the socially beneficial uses of such technology.  

The wide availability and popularity of mobile phones allows it to deliver a number of social benefits. It could help families and friends stay in touch, improve education and medical benefits to rural and remote areas through distance learning and tele-medicine (for example, see Hammond: 2001). An illustrative example has been that of rural Bangladesh that had virtual no mobile phone owners a few years ago. This has changed dramatically in that a much greater proportion of the populace own phones, thus enabling to keep in touch with relatives overseas or in other regions while also enhancing their daily lives by using phones to facilitate small business and contact the police or doctors in emergencies. Thus the capabilities of mobile phone technology to deliver socially beneficial results are not subject to debate. What this paper proposes however, is that mobile phone technology could be used to facilitate youth development in particular, through the exchange of ideas without geographic boundaries.   

2.      Demography of Youth

There are approximately 1.3 billion “youth” living in the world today. This equates to approximately 18 percent of the world’s population being between the age of 15 and 24 years. The majority (almost 85 percent) of these youth live in developing countries, with approximately sixty percent in Asia alone. Many of these young people are illiterate, and, accessibility to education is still problematic because the majority live in rural areas (Table 1 and 2). There are several agencies including those of the United Nations such as DESA, DPI, Habitat, UNODC, UNDP, UNEP, UNFPA, OHCHR, UNICEF, UNIFEM, CICP, UNAIDS, ILO, FAO, UNESCO, ITU, WHO, World Bank, and UNV that are working relentlessly to improve the opportunity imbalances among youth populations.  However, despite the numerous approaches, the deplorable state of youth development has not changed significantly. Youth are still left at the peril of leaders who lack foresight in their future development. In developing countries corruption and political bickering has forced many of these youths to resort to meagre living standards, crime through lack of education and employment and in some nations, recruitment into the forces.   The youth of developed nations suffer from a contrasting predicament. Despite high living standards comparatively and numerous opportunities for education and employment, these youths, in general, tend be apathetic and are victims of moral ambiguity.

How can the United Nations vision for youth be made a reality? The best approach towards this vision is to facilitate interaction between youth population across the world in order to create an understanding of the issues affecting them while appreciating viewpoints beyond their own. ICT could serve as a logical mean by which such interaction could be made possible, particularly by ensuring the availability of computers with internet access to as many youths as possible. However, this approach has resulted in numerous failures, mainly due to a lack of contextual understanding on the part of those leading such efforts. There has also been an underestimation of the fact that disparities in income, infrastructure and literacy are perhaps more pertinent issues in bridging the digital divide than physical access to computers. Poorer segments of society are forced to place priority on pressing concerns, such as food, health care and security over technologies such as computers and internet access. So even if it were possible to provide computer to every household on earth, it would not achieve very much: a computer is not useful to those who have no food, electricity or the knowledge to use such technology. Technology cannot be classed as “useless” as it is viewed as a route out of poverty by some portions of poorer society. The problem lies in the process of implementation as current attempts to bridge the digital divide, despite billions of dollars of investment, have borne little fruit. The lack of tangible improvements in lessening the digital divide raises questions as to why valuable resources are being wasted on a cause that is showing no significant improvement. This paper argues that a lack of an understanding of the contexts in which these bridging programmes are run is a central deficiency that impedes progress in this endeavour. Therefore it is critical that an understanding of the youth demographic and their socio-economic context is studied and understood when tailoring programmes for them.

Table 1: World Youth Population Prospects

Source: United Nations Population Division: 2001

Table 2: Regional Distribution of Youth, 2000 (In Millions)

Source: United Nations Population Division: 2001

3.      Context and Initiatives

The matter of context is usually taken for granted; it is often assumed that societal needs, capabilities and traits are homogeneous. Such assumptions blatantly ignore the differences, even if they are subtle, between different communities, be it in a national, urban or rural backdrop. For example there are five categories of ethnic groups in Malaysia: Malay (50.4 percent), Chinese (23.7 percent), Indigenous (11 percent), Tamil (7.1 percent) and Sikh (7.8 Percent). Each of these ethnic groups can be further divided into subgroups. The indigenous group, for example, can be divided into three major sub-ethnic groups, the people of Sarawak have about twenty-six distinct groups within their collective community, namely the Bidayuh, Kenyah, Kayan, Kedayan, Murut, Punan, Bisayah, Kelabit, Berawan and Penan. The indigenous people of Sabah have thirty-two distinct ethnic groups, and the indigenous people of Peninsular Malaysia have three distinct groups within it. Therefore it can be seen that ethnic classifications can be divided into numerous sub-groups, this is applicable to the Malay, Chinese and Indian populations in Malaysia as well. Communities can be further defined in terms of religious beliefs and language, further defining the contextual background of communities.

Thus no initiative can be generic; they need to be adapted according to the complex contexts of each situation. Similarly, the context of youth along with their disposition as a subset of society needs to be understood. As Pete Ward (1994) identified, young people go through a process of socialisation before they are considered to be adult - which involves knowing how to behave, holding certain values and setting and abiding by moral rules. Youth tend to find solace in groups to support them on the often awkward journey between childhood and adulthood. Teens and adolescents are typically vulnerable to influence, be it positive or negative. It is fair to say that the morals, values and lessons learned during these crucial years leave a permanent impression on an individual’s future, much like an impression on wet cement. Therefore it is no doubt apparent that the spread and inculcation of positive behaviour and values during these years would be a prime objective of “youth development”. 

But how do adults approach youth needs? Tilley (2005), from his daily interaction with youth in a church environment, provides rather comprehensive traits in youth behaviour.  According to Tilley, there are two closely interrelated views to understanding youth. The first is that youth are inclined towards music, fashion and imagery. Second was that youths tend to be self-created in that they use the media to create meaning for themselves by using the symbols portrayed in the media – such as hairstyles, clothing or language - to create their own particular style. This explains why youth have a higher preference towards individualism as compared to adults and prefer to be associated with their own age group. This often manifests itself in youth dressing, listening to the same music, in essence sharing the same passions, despite it seemingly being in contradiction of individuality, a paradox so to speak.

Youth are typified as being free spirited, this is often epitomized in the music they listen which highlights openness and the need to live in the present. This culture of openness in essence is positive as it translates into youth being more eager towards new experiences and meeting new people. However the differences in world perception contrast widely between youth and adults. For instance the best graphic designers and cartoonists tend to be in the youth category as their creativity and imagination differ greatly from that of adults. Authority is a bone of contention between adults and youth as the latter believes in respect being earned and thus tend to oppose sanctioned, regimented control, thus lending credence to the view that youth tend to be rebellious. Youth are generally not afraid of challenging the status quo and believe in living life to the fullest, sometimes even at the risk of a short-lived, shallow experience.

Therefore it is crucial that implementers of youth policy communicate with youth as they do amongst themselves. As mentioned in a community toolkit referred as “Called the Care” which argues implementing youth programmes can be an enduring task. This is because youth communicate very differently from adults.

• They are emotive; they are raw, gutsy, aggressive, emotional, and loud.

• They are direct; they are not abstract or subtle. They are more concerned with the here and now and will express themselves in an uncensored form. Polite euphemisms are not substituted in place of blunt observations.

• They tend to be hyperbolic, that is, deliberate exaggeration is used for effect.

• They tend to be informal; they are casual, careless about correct grammar, and don’t intend to be taken seriously at all times. An assertion may be tentatively offered but quickly withdrawn, as if to say “don't hold me to it”.

• They prefer abbreviated language; they deliver chopped, terse expressions with an economy of syllables. They make points quickly without wasting words.

• They tend to codify their expressions. They purposely obscure language and meaning to exclude unwanted adults and other aliens from understanding; if a term is co-opted by outsiders, it will be dropped from their lexicon.

• They don’t shirk away from using profane language. The use of disrespectful phrasing and obscene expletives make for a kind of verbal swagger, warning away the squeamish.

• They are trend conscious in that they tend to follow the latest fads while contributing their own coinages to the vocabulary. Adaptations of the “in” words can result in unconventional syntax.

Based on the above descriptions of youth behaviours and their mode of thinking, it is clear that youth will reject the notion of being stereotyped by adults. Youth tend to have an idealistic view of the world, as highlighted by the United Nations. It is therefore the task of adults to determine the factors that contribute to youth development and make crucial decisions with regard to what should and what should not be impressed upon the impressionable minds of the youth.

In the process of socialisation, youth can be exposed to many views of the world. And usually, besides the voices of the newsreaders or varying adult interpretations, youth tend to lack an understanding of “why” things happen as they do. A foreign writer, such as, Graham Brown (2004) for example portrays that in the 1980s Malaysia was governed by a regime so powerful that it could overruled the judicial system, banished - who the author claimed an immaculate political leader - (who was the deputy prime minister as well as the finance minister) from his government and political post. The ousted minister according to the author was so loved by the public that his banishment sparks national unrest, supposedly worst than the bloody racial riot that took place in May 1969[1]. A foreign reader will believe what is said to be true, which in reality, could be diverted information based on the writer’s untested and prejudiced views. The information can however be clarified by Malaysians or locals who have lived through the episode. The mode of communication has to be one that is affordable and desired by youth. Thus it is mobile phones and not computers and the internet that presents itself as a technology with potential to disseminate and exchange such information.

4.      Mobile Phones and Youth

Plenty of evidence suggests that the mobile phone is the technology with the greatest impact on development. A paper by Kafela (2006) identifies mobile phone penetration as a powerful engine for economic growth. Estimates suggest that an increase of ten phones per 100 people result in 0.6 percent increase in GDP (Gross Domestic Product). When it comes to mobile phones, there is no need for intervention or funding from the United Nations, even the world's poorest people are already rushing to embrace mobile phones due to the proven economic benefits owners accrue. Mobile phones do not rely on a permanent electricity supply and can be used by people who are not that literate (The Economist: 2005).

Interestingly, studies (see, for example, Mobile Life: 2006; Selian and Srivastava: 2004) indicate that youth are the group in society that use mobile phones the most. About 2.9 billion text messages are sent each day worldwide, nearly 40 percent originate in Asia, 14 percent from North America, and the remaining percentage from other parts of the world. In Asia, total youth mobile data services revenue reached UD$15.2 billion in 2004, and the forecast growth rate is estimated to be 15.3% between 2004 to 2010 (Nevius: 2005).

Western European teenagers between the age of 15 and 17 switch to a new mobile phone every 20 months on average, the fastest among all age groups. Those aged between 18 and 24 buy new devices every 21 months. The older mobile users aged 55 and higher keep their mobile phones for an average of 2.5 years, with new purchases usually occurring after 31 months (Telephia: 2006).

According to Telephia, consumers aged 18-24 use their mobile phones the most, 71 percent more than the total average minutes used by all other age groups. The number of calls they send and receive also outpaced other demographic age groups, claiming an average of 340 calls per month in 2005 (Table 3).

Mobile phone users aged between 25 and 36 posted an average of 970 minutes and 246 calls received per month, while 37-55 year old used an average of 726 minutes and 197 calls a month. Older consumers used the least mobile phone voice minutes and completed just 119 calls per month during the quarter. In terms of data usage, young adults sent and received a total of 126 data messages average per month, more than double the amount sent and received by 25-36 year old users.

Table 3: Total Voice and Calls Sent and Received by Age Demographic in the USA, 2005

Source: Telephia: 2006  

In Malaysia, the mobile phone subscriber base grew by about 20 percent to 11 million users in 2005, yielding a penetration rate of 4.5 percent for a nation of 25 million people. The strongest users range from, 10 - 25 age range (APRG: 2005). Based on findings by the Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC: 2005) from a 4925 random sample of a twelve million (to be exact 12,316,788) target population, the survey found that preteens and teens (users up to the age of 19) accounted for 12.3 percent of the subscriber base. Young adults (from 20 to 49 years of age) accounted for 78 percent of mobile phone subscribers. Older adults (aged 50 and above) accounted for 9 percent.

 5.      Sustainable Capacity of Mobile Phone

Indeed, not too long ago it was not uncommon to hear that technology needed to be analyzed within the cultural context in which it was developed and used. However, the present generation has shown that mobile phones are cutting across cultural differences. In comparison with personal computers and internet technologies, mobile phones are used by a broader strata of the population all over the world and tend to have a deeper beneficial impact on society (Hession: 2001). Mobile phone diffusion has occurred worldwide, rather independently of different cultural habits, values and norms. Thus, mobile phones have become popular even in technophobic contexts like Italy, where computers and other modern technologies have a difficult stand (Fortunati: 2002), and even in Scandinavian countries where people are traditionally introverted, the mobile phone has become essential (Puro: 2002). One major impact of the mobile phone stems from its capacity to include partly illiterate mass populations in less developed countries in the southern hemisphere. These masses will never have the means to buy a computer and were not even connected to the traditional networks of landline phones (Townsend: 2000).

A recent empirical study by the International Telecommunication Union provides striking evidence of how the mobile phone has contributed to narrowing the century-old gap in telephone usage between highly developed and less developed countries. It shows that in 2001 about 100 nations (among them many African) had more mobile than landline phones in service and that mobile phone technology is far more potent than computer technology in connecting less privileged populations to the sphere of digitalized information. (World Telecommunication Development Report: 2002).

There is also wide agreement on the fact that mobile phones can substitute stationary personal computers and/or mobile laptops to a considerable degree, as they are in the course of evolving into multimedia devices; able to transport voice and text messages, pictures, music and, software programs. On the other hand, empirical studies show that email and phones are considered mediums with completely different functions. Even intensive email contact does not lead to a reduction of aural communication. One reason being that voice contact has more capacity to articulate personal emotions - which explains the high relevance of phone contacts with absent family members (Sawhney and Gomez: 2000). More than that, these multimedia functionalities are combined with significantly reduced size, weight, energy needs and buying prices, as well as by a much simpler, user-friendlier interface, which makes it possible to be used by younger children, illiterate or handicapped people and other marginal population segments not able to come to terms with more complex office software applications. Mobile phones have the potential of being accessible to anybody. According to Puro (2002), mobile phones have created a new paradigm in which all human beings are equal, i.e. irrespective of age, gender, cultural background, wealth, income or hierarchical position.

Mobile phone technology is far from a short-lived fad. Given the highly competitive nature of the ICT industry, it is clear that the industry is lucrative and will continue to evolve towards greater functionality and to incorporate more people in society. Dodgeball for example, is working to allow users to see an up-to-date map of friends’ locations, collected through Global Positioning Systems (GPS) available in most high-end phones. JuiceCaster.com automatically provides information on the locations in where the pictures are shot. As of April 2006, Juice Wireless had raised US$3.5 million through their ventures. JuiceCaster.com will use the proceeds to further expand its social networking service. In April 2006, Facebook, a wireless industry giant, began allowing users of Cingular (now AT&T Mobility), Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless to receive friends’ requests on phones and reply via short text messages (SMS). In April 2006, the world's largest cell phone maker, Nokia multimedia phones will come integrated with Flickr, allowing users to post photos shot with their mobiles onto the Flickr site with one click.

Companies have also started imagining the profits coming in through wider use of text messaging. According to Tole Hart an analyst in Gartner, within two years, at least 5 percent of all text messages sent through wireless networks may relate to social network interaction. Today, text messaging is a US$3 billion market in the United States. The application could also encourage more users to buy unlimited data plans, allowing for mobile Web access.

6.      Mobile Phone and Youth Networking

In many ways, mobile phones are the ideal tool to implement social networking for youth. Especially, today's mobile phones come equipped with sophisticated tools such as cameras, digital music and video players as well as sound recorders that can be used for documenting aspects of everyday life. In fact, mobile phone makers, Nokia and Sony Ericsson, are also embedding technology into some of their phones to make it easier for users to upload pictures and text to blogs[2]. These phones are solid tools to share photos, video clips or even songs with party their online.

The means of communication provided by mobile phones is indeed amazing. The question left to be answered is how a relevant youth community working towards a worthy cause can be created. In fact, there are already such things as communities existing in cyberspace, according to Lessig in all the senses that you would identify as relevant for a community. There are places where people spend an extraordinary amount of time devoted to communal goods, to bringing about things that are of value to a collection of people, where they feel identified and feel like they have a role and responsibility in shaping that space. There are extraordinary collections of people who work in common on problems that they consider their problems and problems of society in general (Lessig: 1999).

In fact there are examples of relevant networking established via text messaging that are working for a worthy cause. For example, on June 16th 2006, African campaigners (Global Call to Action against Poverty) - GCAP gave SMS users in fifteen countries across Africa the opportunity to join the ‘world’s largest’ anti-poverty campaign that has already signed up many thousands of supporters in developed countries. The messages received will be presented to African leaders and to G8 leaders at the GCAP summit in Scotland.

Norwegians were allowed a similar opportunity via Amnesty Norway. Amnesty Norway has recruited about 25,000 people who have signed up to receive SMS notices when there is an urgent action alert - about twice a month.  Every time an alert is sent out, each subscriber pays 0.25 Euros (so it costs about 0.50 Euros each month or about 6 Euros a year to stay on the list). Each time someone responds to an urgent action note - about 10,000 do each time - then they pay another 0.25 Euros. Thus far, Amnesty Norway has received about 50 percent of all the text messages fees. This means the program not only has generated Urgent Action signatures, but it has also generated a surprisingly large amount of income to fund Amnesty’s programs, i.e. about 100,000 Euros per year.

These two samples however are not solely run for youth, but it exemplifies the possibility of having networking established via mobile phones and text messaging. The discussion also stressed that any undertaking should target a universal cause, with a clear statement of purpose, i.e. why the cause has to be undertaken and clear guidelines of how the task will be undertaken. Most importantly it is essential to explain the positive benefits that will be accrued and how it constitutes progress. As Marc Ewing (1999) suggested, having a shared situation is not enough, by itself, to create a community. A true community must also have real work to do together in responding to that situation.

7.      Conclusion

There are cultural, social and economic issues embedded in all societies. Sometimes these issues are used to achieve certain political agendas. Often, the exaggeration of certain issues creates and promotes distrust and hatred among groups in society.  Prolonged distrust and hatred then evolve into a social norm. The norm is then cultured and nurtured within members of society. The unhealthy environment circulates and multiplies to a point that every culture group is segregated between one another, i.e. every group lives in their own cocoon. The animosity, distrust and hatred within society will continue unless the future adult groups, i.e. the youth population, are exposed to the enriching, diverse realities of the world. In the context of Malaysia, for example, through the process of development discourse, every ethnic group in the country has a known label. For example, Malays are noted to be lazy and complacent. The Chinese on the other hand are labelled as being opportunists. Indeed the stigma has remained even though to date many Malays have become entrepreneurial giants, beyond that of many Chinese. While among the Chinese, there are increasing cases of groups favouring socializing to hard work. The change highlights that a certain community cannot be stereotyped and condemned forever. Indeed, this transformation should be treasured, for besides time, the process of change takes many sacrifices and openness to evolve. Youth as the representative of our future should be given the mandate to sustain whatever transformation has been achieved towards unity. Mobile phone technology, thus far presents itself as the best communication tool to achieve this end. This is because only mobile phones have been able to access youth in every corner of the world, irrespective of colour, income and level of literacy. And, the innovations in mobile phones are being churned out at incredible speeds, thus adding to the networking possibilities. In addition, due to stiff competition for value and customers, the cost of owning a mobile phone will decrease drastically. Therefore, if mobile phones have to date, improved business linkages among the poor in remote areas and aided the collection of funds for needy causes, mobile phones could be used by youth to expose the goodness of the world to a broader audience.

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