“I am not human without my phone”: How the socio-cultural realities of Liberia shape Liberian mobile youth culture

Abstract

Mobile youth culture (MYC) is a concept that refers to the distinctive ways in which young people adopt and use mobile phones. However, most studies on MYC are situated in the Global North, where the lived realities of teenagers are different from teenagers in the Global South. Through an investigation of how MYC manifests in Liberia, this article adds to the growing literature on mobile communication in the Global South. By doing so, the study responds to scholarly criticisms of the assumption that young people everywhere experience the use of mobile phones in similar ways. Based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 38 Liberian teenagers, our findings challenge the western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD)-centric suggestion of a worldwide “monoculture,” because our results show that although mobile connectivity gives Liberian teenagers opportunities similar to those afforded to their peers in most WEIRD (and non-WEIRD) societies, it is simultaneously experienced markedly different by them. We therefore argue for a more “inclusive” conceptualization of the MYC concept.

Keywords

Mobile youth culture Global South mobile media Liberia south-Saharan Africa teenagers adolescents mobile phone smartphone status identity belonging

Introduction

Mobile phones are tremendously popular in Africa and particularly sub-Saharan Africa (Kanyam et al., 2017; Ogone, 2020; Porter et al., 2015), bringing with them significant economic and social change across the region (Kanyam et al., 2017). Economically, the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA, 2021) reported in 2021 that the mobile ecosystem, which is comprised of mobile technologies and services, contributed 8% of gross domestic product in sub-Saharan Africa and created over 3 million jobs. On the social side, mobile technology serves as a lifeline for society by enabling and supporting social interactions. For instance, mobile phones are reshaping the everyday social routines of sub-Saharan Africans (Porter et al., 2020), changing the way they establish and maintain friendships, and influencing behaviors in intimate relationships (Porter et al., 2015).

The region's teenagers, who make up a huge proportion of the population, occupy a central role in these changes (United Nations, 2019). Compared to adults, African teenagers are found to be far heavier users of mobile technology (Archambault, 2011; Porter et al., 2015). They increasingly use their mobile devices to socialize, connect with family, mobilize resources, and access entertainment (Porter et al., 2012). However, African teenagers’ mobile phone practices have sparked growing concerns among adults (e.g., parents, teachers). In many ways, these concerns resemble a techno-panic (cf. Bond, 2010), which is visible in widespread discourses about young people’s assumed “problematic” mobile media behavior (Porter et al., 2016). Although such discourses may reflect adult concerns – warranted to some extent – about how mobile technology is contributing to the erosion of traditional family life and societal values and norms (cf. Wasserman, 2011), an overly strong focus on this issue can lead adults to overlook the very opportunities and challenges that mobile media bring to young people in Africa. To understand the pivotal role played by the mobile media practices of African young people in cultural change, empirical evidence on how their mobile youth culture (MYC) (Vanden Abeele, 2016) takes shape is required.

Today, there is an extensive literature on the MYC of teenagers living in western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) nations (Henrich et al., 2010), also referred to as the Global North. However, in order to advance our knowledge of how mobile media shape and are shaped by young people’s everyday lives, it is important to include contexts beyond the Global North. A growing body of research on how the mobile phone is embedded locally in Global South contexts illustrate that MYCs intersect with social, cultural, economic, and political structures (e.g., Banaji & Moreno-Almeida, 2021; Donald et al., 2010; Kibere, 2016; Rao & Lingam, 2021; Wallis et al., 2011) Nonetheless, how African – and in particular Liberian – young people use mobile phones, and how their practices are embedded in their local socio-cultural context, remains underexplored. This is unfortunate, because the dominance of western-centric perspectives within MYC scholarship hinders a contextualized understanding of how the mobile phone contributes to rapid cultural and social transitions in sub-Saharan African societies.

Thus, this study aims to contribute to the literature on MYC by exploring how young people in Liberia, a country in one of the poorest and most culturally diverse regions in Africa, appropriate mobile phones and how their appropriations are embedded within the broader socio-cultural context of Liberian society. Drawing from in-depth interviews with 38 Liberian teenagers, we investigate what mobile ownership means to them and how phone use satisfies the needs peculiar to their age group. However, before elaborating on the results of our interview study, we first provide some general information on teen life in Liberia and discuss the MYC framework within which we situate the results.

Theoretical framework

Teen life in Liberia

Liberia is a small country situated on the west coast of Africa. It is the continent's oldest republic, and was established in 1847 by freed U.S. slaves. A civil war that started in 1989 lasted nearly two decades and left most of the country's population in poverty. Nearly half of Liberia's population (49.1%) are under 18 years of age (Lawin et al., 2018). Due to the ensuing difficult economy and poverty, most of the country's young people cannot go to school, and most of those who manage to do so are unlikely to enter tertiary education (Mel et al., 2009). To make matters worse, a lack of employment opportunities makes it difficult for most young people in Liberia to become self-sufficient and independent (Mel et al., 2009). This leaves most of the country's young people – even up to 35 years of age – still living in family homes or with their parents, and dependent on family support to survive (cf. Goggin & Crawford, 2011).

Similar to other African regions, socio-cultural discourses on age, and the limited opportunities for becoming (financially) independent in Liberia, subject young people to an involuntarily and prolonged liminal state of youth (cf. De Boeck & Honwana, 2005). Consequently, young people typically occupy a subordinate position in family hierarchies in which they are expected to respect and obey elders and domestic norms (Mbito, 2004; Porter et al., 2012). These norms, which encompass every aspect of teen life, empower parents to impose strict regulations on young Liberians’ socialization, entertainment, and physical mobility (i.e., when and where teenagers may go), and may even dictate what content (e.g., books, movies, music) they are exposed to. These restrictions are especially strong for girls compared to boys, because concerns about teenage or unintended pregnancy, which is prevalent among teenage girls who go to school in Liberia (cf. Kimemia & Mugambi, 2016), prompt parents to impose tougher restrictions on the mobility and association of teenage girls.

In this context, the mobile phone may hold the potential to ease some of the socio-cultural restrictions that Liberian young people face, because it opens up possibilities for autonomous navigation of the social reality (cf. Bond, 2010; Vanden Abeele, 2016). Simultaneously, however, similar to young individuals who live in other developing societies (e.g., Kibere, 2016), mobile phones may pose new challenges for young people in Liberia. Thus, investigating the mobile media practices of Liberian teenagers and how they shed light on how MYC is embedded locally in Liberia is important, because it brings into consideration the socio-economic and cultural realities in which these teenagers live in a rapidly digitizing society. The study responds to this call by amplifying the voices of Liberian teenagers with regard to how they perceive and appropriate the mobile phone within their socio-cultural contexts.

MYC in Liberia

MYC refers to how young people use mobile media in unique ways that support and enhance their everyday lives (Vanden Abeele, 2016). For example, young people have widely embraced mobile phones (Campbell & Park, 2008), and have developed distinctive practices to establish, maintain, and reinforce social connections using the devices (e.g., Donald et al., 2010; Ling 2004; Taylor & Harper, 2001). In addition, the mobile phone supports young people in pursuing their personal aspirations and identity relatively autonomously from authority figures (Ling & Yttri, 2005). According to MYC theory, this illustrates the central role of mobile technology in young people's transition from childhood to adulthood (Vanden Abeele, 2016).

Although the concept of MYC offers a useful lens through which to understand teenagers’ mobile media practices, it is criticized for being rather Eurocentric (e.g., Castells et al., 2007; Goggin & Crawford, 2011; Ling & Bertel, 2007; Vanden Abeele, 2014). Specifically, MYC theory risks misrepresenting young people's practices as a monoculture by perpetuating the assumption that young people in different cultures share similar experiences when growing up (Vanden Abeele, 2016). The risk of misrepresentation is especially valid because most empirical studies in this tradition involve white and middle-class youths in western societies (Goggin & Crawford, 2011). Consequently, the scholarship tends to overlook how the heterogeneous realities of youth shape the local embeddedness of mobile media practices (De Leyn et al., 2022).

In sum, we argue that there is both theoretical and empirical value in examining how MYC manifests in contexts different from those in the Global North, such as in sub-Saharan Liberia. By doing so, we aim to contribute to a growing field of mobile media studies that explore the local embeddedness of the mobile phone in societies beyond the Global North (e.g., Banaji & Moreno-Almeida, 2021; Donald et al., 2010; Kibere, 2016; Rao & Lingam, 2021; Wallis et al., 2011) In a culture such as Liberia, where young people live under extreme and limiting socio-economic circumstances, mobile phones may be potent instruments in their hands. They can offer young people virtual mobility, give them quick access to information and content, and can facilitate micro-coordination (Porter et al., 2012). Simultaneously, however, they may bring new challenges to the lives of young people, if only through the new dependency they have on the technology in relation to getting by in everyday life (Kibere, 2016).

Based on what has been said, this study aims to find out whether the local embedding of mobile phones among young people in Liberia reveals a MYC that is specific to the opportunities available and the challenges they face in this modernizing society. While doing so, we also pay attention to the possibility of subcultures within this MYC and how these may be further grounded in meaningful differences between young persons living in Liberia.

Method

Sample and data collection procedure

To address the research questions of this study, 38 semi-structured interviews with Liberian teenagers were conducted between July and September 2021. Participants (N = 16 males; N = 21 females) were teenagers between the ages of 15 and 22 and were students from private¹ and public² schools in the capital city of Monrovia and its suburbs.

In this study, we use the term “teenagers” to refer to children between approximately 13 and 25 years of age. This is because in Liberia, the social demarcation of the adolescent life stage is somewhat different than in the Global North (cf. Goggin & Crawford, 2011). For example, it is common practice in Liberia to see children up to 25 years of age still living with their parents. Consequently, children in this age category (20–25 years of age) who live with their parents often face the same experience as younger teenagers (13–19 years of age) with regard to control and monitoring by parents.

We obtained informed consent and parental consent for all participants. We also obtained ethical clearance from the Research Ethics and Data Management Committee of Tilburg University on April 12, 2021, and from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Liberia on June 14, 2021.

Sampling and procedure

We selected schools from a list of those in Monrovia and its surroundings using convenience sampling, following which we asked for permission from the school authorities to recruit students for the study. Then, we were escorted to classrooms by officials from the school authorities to explain the purpose of the study. We asked for volunteers, who received additional briefing and were allowed to ask questions regarding their participation. We then obtained parental consent, following which dates and venues for interviews were decided, based on participants’ preferences. Participants were interviewed alone to ensure confidentiality and to encourage them to talk. Some opted for a (semi-)public setting, such as on the porch of their homes or in the open yard. To be selected, participants had to own a mobile phone (i.e., smartphone or button phone) and had to be between 13 and 25 years of age.

Interview guide and procedure for analysis

A semi-structured interview guide was prepared in advance, and interview questions were open-ended to allow respondents to provide their own answers (Reja et al., 2003). Interviews lasted between 40 and 50 minutes. We transcribed and coded the interviews manually using a partial transcript approach, that is, we transcribed only the important sections (Arksey & Knight, 1999).

Following the conceptual foundations of the MYC concept, the interview guide explored themes in relation to how mobile phones support identity formation/expression, autonomy, and relatedness. In addition, the interviews asked about domestic norms surrounding phone use (e.g., whether there are written/implied rules regarding phone use and whether the young people interviewed worry about using their phones when at home with their parents). Subthemes in the interview guide tapped further into specific issues in relation to identity, autonomy, and relatedness, such as the phone's role in providing status and leveraging popularity (e.g., how status is attached to mobile phone ownership and whether “brand” matters, and whether mobile phone ownership influenced friendship formation), and its role in maintaining relationships. Based on MYC theory, we generated a first set of higher-order codes that were used to bring initial structure to the transcribed data. As we coded further, subcodes emerged (e.g., “information gathering and knowledge”) during an iterative coding process.

Below, we present the results of our thematic analysis. Quotes are presented in their pidgin or colloquial forms as spoken by respondents during the interviews. Even though standard English is widely spoken in Liberia, pidgin or colloquial English – a Liberian or in-group version of standard English – is common, especially when those conversing are Liberians. To maintain anonymity, we use pseudonyms instead of the participants’ real names.

Results

Our analysis of the interviews revealed that the opportunities and challenges related to the “modernization” of Liberian society manifest themselves in the MYC of Liberian teenagers. In particular, our findings show that the use and understandings of mobile media by Liberian teenagers cannot be separated from their lived realities as citizens in one of the poorest nations of the world: Within a context of financial hardship, the phone takes on special meaning as a resource that can be leveraged to develop a better life and one that allows teenagers to circumvent constraints on freedom that stem from traditional domestic norms. At the same time, however, phones, and the various ways in which they are used and understood, also reproduce the precarity and constraints that certain groups of teenagers face. Especially for poorer and female teenagers, mobile phones are a double-edged sword. Below, we highlight the three dominant themes that reflect the dualities that phones bring: use of the phone for resource mobilization; to socialize; and as a status marker.

Resource mobilization

Previous research in the Global South has already highlighted that the mobile phone grants teenagers opportunities to participate in a society in which computers are fairly rare, making learning and teaching difficult (Palumbo, 2014). This was also the case for the Liberian teenagers that we interviewed. As Liberia struggles to regain its footing after nearly two decades of war, most children are eager to go to school to increase their chances of a better future. For example, 21-year-old Jebbeh expressed her eagerness to attend school to “acquire knowledge and to be able to help my big sister to take care of my mom,” whereas Siah (21) believes going to school will make her “not to suffer in the future.” The mobile phone was especially important to these and other teenagers interviewed due to the unavailability of textbooks and computers. As such, the mobile phone is the closest thing to a computer for many. As Liberian teenagers strive to get quality education, they expressed strong appreciation for mobile phones as tools that enhance their education. The following comments from teenagers illustrate this:

Phone is important to me because if my teacher happens to give me an assignment, I use my phone to browse on the internet (Jebbeh: 21-year-old female).

If you in the class and teacher give you assignment you not get the book to take it from you can use the internet (Emma: 19-year-old female).

In light of this, the teenagers in this study expressed that mobile phones are essential for resource mobilization. They reported that they made extensive use of the “perpetual contact” afforded by mobile media to seek support from peers when faced with difficult assignments. For instance, 14-year-old Moses told us that the ability to connect with peers without “being physically” together is instrumental in meeting educational demands efficiently: “If I have assignment to do and I don’t understand it I can call them [friends], maybe they will make me understand.” Next to opportunities for collaborative learning, we also observed how Liberian teenagers appropriate mobile communication to harness resources to support their education and to find livelihood support, using mobile money services:³

When I use my telephone and someone call me, I can ask them for money to help me with my school and my other stuff that I need in my school (Massa: 21-year-old female).

When I want something from her [Aunt], I can easily take my phone and call her and she will send it on my mobile money (Mechen: 15-year-old female).

However, an associated constraint that limits the mobile phone's potential for Liberian teenagers is access to the internet, a feature that enhances the mobile phone experience. Although the anyplace, anytime connectivity afforded by the mobile phone is thus perceived as paramount to mobilizing resources, socio-economic constraints complicate the ability of young people in Liberia to maintain this ubiquitous connectivity, especially those who face greater poverty.

The absence of the internet in most homes, schools, and in public areas means having to provide an internet connection for oneself, something most teenagers cannot afford due to the harsh economic reality. However, mobile phones enable teenagers to circumvent this challenge to some extent through the use of new-generation file-sharing technologies such as Xender⁴ and SHAREit⁵, which do not require an internet connection to share and exchange digital content such as documents, trending music, (TikTok) videos, movies, pictures, and games with each other. As evidenced in our conversation with Arthur, Liberian teenagers employ such strategies to circumvent limited mobile connectivity:

We share it [digital content] through Xender because Bluetooth is not existing to we, the young people. Only the elders are still using it. They [Xender] are much faster than Bluetooth and with Xender you can transfer to more than one person at the same time (Arthur: 18-year-old male).

Moreover, our participants reported that they use the “Free Basics” services feature provided by Facebook (now Meta) to connect with peers. This service allows users to message each other without a paid internet connection as long as they remain within the Facebook ecosystem, although they cannot access pictures, videos, or podcasts. However, these strategies are indicative of new dependencies that these teenagers develop, in this case, on the “benevolent capitalism” of moguls in big tech industry.

Given that the socio-economic constraints experienced by Liberian teenagers make it difficult to fulfill their need for self-actualization, esteem, and socialization in their everyday lives, the importance of the mobile phone to achieve such purposes is highlighted, resulting in great practical and socio-emotional dependence on mobile media. From our interviews with these teenagers, it became clear that the mobile phone plays an essential role in helping them navigate their everyday livelihoods. This is shown in the following quotes from three teenagers:

My phone is very, very, important to me. If my phone go off just for a day, I’m not a human for that day (Ezekiel: 18-year-old male).

I believe when my mom move from near me and my dad move from near me, and they go spend time for 1,000 years, so long the phone always in my hand, I can’t think on them (Arthur: 18-year-old male).

A day spent without my phone; I can feel sick (Emma: 19-year-old female).

How the mobile phone supports Liberian teenagers’ social autonomy

Unlike teenagers in the Global North (e.g., Ito et al., 2010; Williams & Williams, 2005), the socio-cultural structure in which Liberian teenagers live limits their autonomy to pursue personal interests, including their interest in socialization. Specifically, the everyday life of Liberian teenagers is very different from that of the average teenager living in the Global North: For example, as well as traveling to school every day, Liberian teenagers must perform multiple daily domestic tasks, including house cleaning, cooking (especially girls), fetching water from wells or public (hand)pumps, and doing manual laundry. This reality, according to teenagers, places physical constraints on their socialization. Consequently, we found how mobile phones play a vital role in the everyday lives of Liberian teenagers who stated that they use their mobile phones to gain autonomy and to steer their own relationships with peers outside the sphere of control and influence of parents or other adults. This is illustrated in the following interviews:

What I need to do they [parents] don’t want me to do it, [but] I will [be] able to do it, through that phone. Without them [parents] knowing (Edith: 17-year-old female).

Now I can make friends with whoever I want to make friends with because at first, my mom used to restrict my friend (Irene: 18-year-old female).

Mobile phone has made it easier that you don’t have to leave your house. You can be here or there or anywhere and make friends (Mamu: 18-year-old male).

However, there is meaningful heterogeneity in how Liberian teenagers use their smartphone, especially in relation to gender. For example, when it comes to establishing and maintaining romantic relationships, the opportunity to do so through mediated communication – as afforded by mobile phones – seems to be working well for Liberian teenagers, albeit differently for girls and boys. For girls wishing to experiment with their sexuality, the mobile phone is the perfect tool because they face stronger parental restrictions compared to boys: it enables the crossing of virtual boundaries via video calls and texts with boys, leaving little worries about pregnancy or getting caught by wary and vigilant parents. This is illustrated by the following:

Especially for the opposite gender, you don’t have to go to the house because sometimes it's risky for you and the opposite gender to be in the same place, because the devil is busy. So, you can talk online, you see each other faces, you have fun (Jestina: 16-year-old female).

If I have a phone and you have yours we can like communicate. You don’t have to come to my house, I don’t have to go to your house (Bendu: 18-year-old female).

On the other hand, timid teenage boys view the mobile phone as a potent tool through which by mediated means such as calling or texting they can persuade a girl into a romantic relationship. This way, they circumvent any possibility of embarrassment in the presence of peers in the event the request is turned down:

When you want you see girl passing like that girl coming [pointing to a teen girl passing by], maybe sometime I may want her [for romantic relationship], but I will be shy to talk it. I will only ask her say oh give me your number (Ezekiel: 18-year-old male).

Our conversations with Liberian teenagers show evidence of how they use their mobile phones to gain autonomy from parents during the important developmental phase between childhood and adulthood when the desire to bond and find belgongingness with peers is intense. We find evidence of the mobile phone serving as an important link between Liberian teenagers and their peers. Finally, our findings demonstrate how teenagers view their mobile phones not only as devices that allow them to send and receive messages, but also as expressive symbols through which they negotiate their values and tastes, and place in the peer group.

Mobile phones as status symbols

In MYC, mobile phones are not just communication devices. They are also symbolic extensions of the self that communicate the owner's values (Katz & Sugiyama, 2006; Srivastava, 2005), reflect access to financial resources, and express individual and collective identities (Vanden Abeele, 2016; Williams & Williams, 2005). In similar fashion to teenagers in the Global North, our results show how Liberian teenagers view mobile phones as personalized fashion objects, attaching importance to design and aesthetics (e.g., casings, personalized ring tones). Liberian teenagers pay special attention to device quality or type. Specifically, Liberian teenagers are drawn to the iPhone because of its aesthetic beauty, camera quality, storage capacity, etc., making the iPhone the popular brand among Liberian teenagers, many of whom own cheap Chinese brands that flood the Liberian phone market:

“iPhone is their [young people] God … they worship the phone [iPhone] so much,” they behave like the phone [iPhone] is more than their life (Helena: 20-year-old female).

Everyone wants to have iPhone because normally we [teenagers] want clear pictures and [also] because the capacity is really, really built up (Mary: 18-year-old female).

Liberian teenagers also view mobile phones as status symbols or markers (cf. Campbell, 2005; Katz & Sugiyama, 2006; Srivastava, 2005), signaling independence from parents (cf. Campbell, 2005; Srivastava, 2005) as well as economic and social status. For example, from our interviews, Liberian teenagers who own iPhones are perceived as affluent and belonging to upper-class families. Therefore, a teenager owning an iPhone in Liberia is afforded a form of celebrity status within the peer group as illustrated in the following quotes from our interviews with four teenagers:

They [iPhone owners] using phone that costs 700 [i.e., American dollars], we know their parents are financially strong (Jacob: 21-year-old male).

If you have iPhone, many people can want to go to your house every day (Maybel: 17-year-old female).

Once you have iPhone you are [considered] big boy or big girl (Arthur: 18-year-old male).

My friends give me lot of respect when they see the iPhone in my hand (Irene: 18-year-old female).

Our interviews reveal that the harsh economic reality in Liberia prevents most teenagers from enjoying the status elevation that results from owning a smartphone device, especially an expensive device such as an iPhone. For example, unlike their peers who own some sort of smartphone with features that enable enhanced distant interpersonal socialization, Liberian teenagers who due to their precarious economic state cannot afford a smartphone – or even any phone – feel marginalized because they are unable to stretch their socializations beyond their geographical constraints and cannot enjoy the educational enhancement opportunities of a mobile phone (i.e., smartphone). The following quotes from two teenagers illustrate this:

I feel bad, because when my friends have phones [referring to smartphones] that they can do things on and I don’t have (Massa: 21-year-old female).

But using this kind of phone [referring to a simple button phone] at this kind of age you know it's kinda hard for me (Morris: 17-year-old male).

Furthermore, in the Liberian MYC, friendships are formed around the type of phone one has (i.e., smartphones vs. simple phones). In other words, the quality of a person’s mobile phone defines group formation and membership, a practice one teenager described as “button phone friends” and “touch screen friends.” Put simply, as Liberian teenagers socialize, sometimes, those who possess button or simple phones often group together, whereas those with smartphones form their own group:

The people that get the touch screen [i.e., smartphone] don’t want to be bothered with the people that get button phones (Emma: 19-year-old female).

In my class, people associate themselves with people based on the quality of phone you have. So, everyone group themselves according to the type of phones they have (Irene: 18-year-old female).

The mobile phone as a status or marker symbol and the extent to which it determines entry into the peer group has social consequences for teenagers with a low socio-economic status who cannot afford an iPhone or another brand perceived as high quality. That is, teenagers in possession of popular brands such as the iPhone attract more attention and friends, whereas those who cannot afford expensive brands experience rejection and alienation within the friend group, and their self-esteem is negatively affected:

When we’re sitting together [and] when my button phone ring, they [those holding expensive brands] will always say oh man move from here man (Barcon: 18-year-old male).

I feel honestly bad using this phone [button phone] but I just have to (Morris: 17-year-old male).

When I see people bringing so, so, big-big phones [high-quality brands], when they ask me, you get phone I can say no, because it looking shameful (Ezekiel: 18-year-old male).

The above findings show that although similar to what is practiced in the Global North, in Liberian MYC the distinction between button phones and smartphones is more pronounced among teenagers because financial hardship makes smartphone ownership a privilege. Thus, the phone a person owns can be used to negotiate social and economic status among peers, and becomes reflective of the existence of different youth subcultures that form around differences in affluence.

Discussion

Although the literature regarding mobile phone use among young people beyond the Global North has grown substantially over the past decade, sub-Saharan Africa, and especially Liberia with its rich ethnic and cultural diversity, and where poverty is highest, remains an understudied region when compared to other areas in the world. This is unfortunate as mobile phone uptake, especially among young people, is widespread and impactful despite these harsh realities in Liberia.

This study set out to explore the embedding of mobile phones among young people in Liberia to uncover whether there is an MYC specific to the opportunities available to Liberian young people and the challenges they face in a country undergoing modernization. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 38 Liberian teenagers, we found that mobile phones occupy a central role in the everyday lives of young Liberians. As such, our findings provide additional evidence for the main assumption of MYC, namely, that young people across the globe experience, to some degree, similar developmental processes that result in distinctive mobile media practices that support identity negotiation, autonomy, and belongingness (Vanden Abeele, 2016).

However, our results illustrate that differences in the socio-economic and cultural context between Liberia and countries in the Global North, as well as in the Global South, result in very heterogeneous expressions of MYC (cf. Goggin & Crawford, 2011; Wallis et al., 2011). First and foremost, our findings show that economic constraints lead to particular meanings and uses of mobile phones among Liberian teenagers. Phones are used directly to mobilize financial resources, with mobile payments contributing to teenagers’ educational attainments and, thus, their chances for upward mobility. However, because many Liberian teenagers cannot afford to access the internet due to high data costs and lack of free wireless internet connections, those interviewed revealed that they employed strategies to circumvent the problem and to allow them to connect with peers and to access digital files. Economic constraints also imply that the mobile phone is a standard of evaluation among peers for most Liberian teenagers, many of whom are from poor families. For them, owning certain brands (e.g., an iPhone) can compensate for or disguise low social status and help them earn a central place within the peer group. As such, it also becomes clear that in Liberia, there are differences between young people in relation to the financial hardships they face, manifested in how much they can capitalize on the opportunities mobile media offer, or become subjected to the constraints they present. Thus, these differences in economic resources give way to different youth subcultures.

Similarly, most Liberian teenagers take advantage of the anytime, anyplace connectivity (Castells, 2010; Castells et al., 2007) that mobile phones afford to socialize from any location at any time. This way, they can overcome mobility restrictions imposed by wary parents. In doing so, similar to teenagers living in WEIRD societies, the interviewed Liberian teenagers expressed a strong desire for self-determined actions: perpetual contact and peer association and bonding (Vanden Abeele, 2016). As they struggle to gain autonomy to pursue self-socialization goals, they find support from mobile technology, which provides them with countless opportunities and possibilities for navigating through the socio-economic constraints they face. Here again, however, stark gender differences are noticeable, with girls understanding and using mobile media in different ways to their male counterparts, and also being supervised differently in their use by parents and other authority figures. As such, both a young person’s access to financial resources and gender are social factors that demarcate different mobile media youth subcultures.

On a theoretical level, the findings of this study highlight the importance of considering different contexts, which, as our study confirms, can lead to different uses of mobile phones. For example, our findings challenge the WEIRD-centric notion in the literature that mobile phones almost naturally result in anytime, anyplace connectivity for the owners. On the contrary, our results show that Liberian young people experience this kind of connectivity differently. Thus, our study confirms the theoretical shortcomings of the MYC concept (see also Goggin and Crawford, 2011; Haddon, 2007; Vanden Abeele, 2016): Specifically, when studying MYC, the heterogeneous realities of teenagers have been less explored. Therefore, we recommend the development of a more “inclusive” conceptualization of anytime, anyplace connectivity, one that takes into consideration the impact of culture on the use of mobile phone technology and that understands the localized manifestations of its affordances. As our results have demonstrated, the lived experiences of individuals – in our case, teenagers – can indeed determine how they think about mobile phones and what specific practices they perform in response to their individual circumstances.

With mobile phone ownership among teenagers now increasing in Liberia, the findings of our study hold practical relevance for parents and those working with families and children in the country, because they can be used as an evidence base from which conversations, interventions, and campaigns regarding proper mobile media use can be started. According to Sasson and Mesch (2014) and Shin and Lwin (2017), an open discussion approach, which involves helping and guiding children in their use of mobile media, can foster a mutual understanding of the benefits and opportunities afforded by mobile phones.

Although the results of our study, which is one of the first to study MYC in sub-Saharan Africa, show the existence of a MYC in Liberia, the results here should be interpreted with caution for four reasons. First, participants were drawn from the (sub-)urban capital of Monrovia, where the socio-economic context is different from that experienced by teenagers living in rural areas. In rural areas in particular, many children still do not participate in any form of schooling at all. This may result in an entirely different lived reality, which may also have an impact on the existence of a MYC in these areas. Second, although participants were recruited from the (sub-)urban capital of Monrovia, they were drawn mostly from low-income families who live on the economic margins. Consequently, they may have different experiences from their peers in high-income families. In other words, there may be further heterogeneity in mobile phone practices as a result of teenagers’ economic status than what has been explored and revealed in this article. Third, sub-Saharan Africa is a multi-ethnic region with diversities in cultural practices (Nyambegera, 2002; Sweetland et al., 2014). Therefore, we argue that studying MYC in these different contexts is needed to capture trends within MYC in sub-Saharan Africa fully. Finally, the results are based on interviews with only 38 teenagers; therefore, there is a need for caution with regard to generalization of the results.

In sum, the results presented in this study show the MYC(s) of Liberian young people, telling a tale of both opportunities and challenges in a rapidly modernizing society in one of the poorest regions of the world. The analysis of these opportunities and challenges raises further questions about how these MYCs may (re-)produce and challenge the traditional culture and domestic norms of Liberia. More research is needed to examine this issue further, for example, through an analysis of parental mediation of mobile media use (e.g., setting rules and controlling media use), teenagers’ perceptions of parental mediation, and how young people respond to attempts by parents to monitor and control their social activities and mobile phone usage. Such research could further advance our knowledge of how mobile media, and especially MYCs, are entwined in social and cultural change in sub-Saharan Africa and, more generally, the world.

Footnotes

Authors' note

Euriahs Togar, Department of Cognition and Communication, Tilburg University, the Netherlands. Tom De Leyn, School of Social Sciences, Hasselt University, Belgium. Mariek M. P. Vanden Abeele Department of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg University, The Netherlands.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received financial support from Tilburg University Fund for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iDs

Euriahs Togar

Tom De Leyn

Mariek M. P. Vanden Abeele

Notes

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