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

• Published in: Mobile media & communication Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 95 - 111
• Main Authors: Togar, Euriahs, Antheunis, Marjolijn L., De Leyn, Tom, Abeele, Mariek M. P. Vanden
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.01.2024
• Subjects: Mobile youth culture; Liberia; belonging; smartphone; south-Saharan Africa; adolescents; mobile phone; identity; mobile media; teenagers; Global South; status
• ISSN: 2050-1579; 2050-1587
• DOI: 10.1177/20501579231197373

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.