Abstract
Social Media Communication has effectively infiltrated all kinds of social grou**s, be it at family, community or corporate level. Incidentally, almost everyone who owns a smartphone, laptop, iPad or other related gadgets belongs to one, if not several, social media communication groups through different social media handles such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or WhatsApp Messenger. It is evident that social media groups have come to fill in the gap that has been created by distance between family and friends when members separate or are not together for a while. In this regard, social media group communication has kept family members, friends and workmates in constant and consistent interaction regardless of the distance between them. Regrettably, social media group communication has come with integrity challenges. The African cultural values imbedded in the family court among the Ndau people in particular have been severely affected. In this chapter, an interrogation of the ethics of social media group communication from an African auto-ethnographic viewpoint is proffered. The chapter argues that, while social media group communication has become trendy in the era of the global village, it has also shattered the essential and valuable African traditional family court system.
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Notes
- 1.
Zimbabwe has several ethnic Shona groups such as the Zezuru, Karanga, Manyika and Korekore. The Ndau is one of them and this group is concentrated in the south-eastern district of the country bordering with Mozambique. In this chapter focus is on the Ndau as a case study, making reference to the advent of social media communication to those living in rural communities but have families in towns and cities in Zimbabwe and abroad.
- 2.
There were only two Mobile Phone Signal boosters in all of Chi**e district in 2009 when social media communication started in Ndau rural community. The district is 5220 km2 and has a total population of 298,841. From this population, 291,313 people live in rural areas, with only 7528 staying in urban setup.
- 3.
In computing and communication circles, this term refers to a situation where a wave travels at a constant frequency and is received by different people at the same instant.
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Konyana, E.G. (2021). Interrogating Social Media Group Communication’s Integrity: An African, Utilitarian Perspective. In: Okyere-Manu, B.D. (eds) African Values, Ethics, and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70550-3_11
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