Abstract
In 2020 the global COVID-19 outbreak forced most governments to implement hard lockdown measures, which contracted all socio-economic activities. For Generation Z (Gen Z), born between 1996 and 2015 and entering higher education as well as the job market, this would have a profound impact. In a develo** country, such as South Africa, where 19.59 million citizens (55% of which are unemployed) belong to this classification, the ramifications are even more severe. How digital natives use smart devices and online platforms under these conditions is a litmus test for information and communication technologies (ICTs) and understanding the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown in the develo** South African context. Through a quantitative online survey completed by 238 higher education students from a private learning institution, this study uncovered that although 64.7% of respondents have access to the internet, only 23.5% of them indicated that they used the time and online resources during lockdown to improve their economic prospects. 60.5% of the respondents believe that communication technology, such as smartphones and laptops, mostly to completely replace face-to-face communication and 66% of respondents believe that the COVID-19 lockdown will irreversibly change the way in which society communicates. This data is further investigated through the Uses and Gratification Expectancy model (UGE) to better understand how Gen Z utilise technology to satiate their communication needs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ad**-Tettey, T. D. (2020). Can ‘digital natives’ be ‘strangers’ to digital technologies? An analytical reflection. Inkanyiso: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 12(1), 11–23.
Bhengu, C. (2021). Blade Nzimande on the impact of COVID-19 on tertiary students. https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2021-06-15-in-quotes--blade-nzimande-on-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-tertiary-students/. [Accessed on 15 September 2021].
Brannan, K. (2019). What generation comes after millennials? Meet Gen Z. https://www.kasasa.com/articles/generations/who-are-gen-z. [Accessed on 2 May 2020].
Breakfast, S. (2020). Study reveals how the lockdown has impacted South Africans: Blade Nzimande shared findings of a study made on the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on South Africans. https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/study-reveals-how-the-lockdown-has-impacted-south-africans/. [Accessed on 26 April 2020].
BusinessTech. (2018). Here’s how South Africa’s crime rate compares to actual warzones. https://businesstech.co.za/news/lifestyle/271997/heres-how-south-africas-crime-rate-compares-to-actual-warzones/. [Accessed on 6 April 2019].
Chaffey, D., & Smith, P. R. (2017). eMarketing eXcellence: Planning and optimizing your digital marketing. 3rd edition. Elsevier.
Cotterill, J. (2021). South Africa struggles to get COVID-19 messages across. https://www.ft.com/content/0eefe8c2-dbd6-429d-8757-d973233cc3e9. [Accessed on 19 November 2021].
Department of Statistics South Africa. (2020). Stats SA launches online survey to gauge the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. www.statssa.gov.za. [Accessed on 10 May 2020].
Dlamini, B. L. (2020). An analysis of South African media companies’ strategies for Generation Z news media consumption. Unpublished MA dissertation. University of the Witwatersrand.
Francis, T. & Hoefel, F. (2020). ‘True Gen’: Generation Z and its implications for companies: The influence of Gen Z—the first generation of true digital natives—is expanding. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/true-gen-generation-z-and-its-implications-for-companies. [Accessed on 27 April 2020].
Haidt, J. (2019). Jonathan Haidt: The three terrible ideas weakening Gen Z and damaging universities and democracies. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5IGyHNvr7E&t=2423s
Hamilton, D. L. (1998). Causal attribution viewed from an information-processing perspective. In D. Bar-Tal & A. W. Kruglanski (Eds.), The social psychology of knowledge (pp. 359–385). Cambridge University Press.
Kalamtime. (2021). Evolution of communication from ancient to modern times. https://www.kalamtime.com/blog/evolution-of-communication/. [Accessed on 15 November 2021].
LePan, N. (2020). Visualizing the history of pandemics. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/history-of-pandemics-deadliest/. [Accessed on 26 April 2020].
Littlejohn, S. W., Foss, K. A., & Oetzel, J. G. (2017). Theories of human communication. Waveland Press, Inc.
Maree, K. (Ed.). (2007). First steps in research. Van Schaik.
Matli, W. (2020). The changing work landscape as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from remote workers life situations in South Africa. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 40(10), 1237–1256. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-08-2020-0386
Mehta, V. (2020, August 30). How has communication changed over the years? #2 [Blog post]. https://medium.com/@mehtavandan97/how-has-communication-changed-over-the-years-2-a9d529e8f3b6
Mondi, M., Woods, P., & Rafi, A. (2008). A ‘uses and gratification expectancy model’ to ‘predict e-Learning experience.’ Educational Technology & Society, 11(2), 241–261.
Munsif, A., Pa, W., Mahmud, M. S., & Zainal, M. S. (2020). Implications of social media addiction on academic performance among generation Z student-athletes during COVID-19 lockdown. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 4(18), 31–43. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.20.8.12
National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. (2021). Teams look to improve country’s COVID response. http://en.nhc.gov.cn/2022-02/21/c_85857.htm. [Accessed on 12 December 2021].
Pratt, M. K. (2019). ICT (information and communications technology, or technologies). https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/ICT-information-and-communications-technology-or-technologies. [Accessed on 17 November 2021].
Raacke, J. & Bonds-Raacke, J. (2008). MySpace and Facebook: Applying the uses and gratifications theory to exploring friend-networking sites. Cyberpsychology & Behavior: The Impact of the Internet, Multimedia and Virtual Reality on Behavior and Society, 11(2), 169–174. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2007.0056
Roberts, M. (2010). International migration of health professionals and the marketization and privatization of health education in India: From push-pull to global political economy. Social Science & Medicine, 124, 374–382.
Sokhulu, L. H. (2020). Students’ experiences of using digital technologies to address their personal research needs during COVID-19 lockdown, African Identities, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2020.1801384
Szudek, A. (Ed.). (2019). DK series: How philosophy works. Penguin Random House.
Topic, M., & Mitchell, B. (2019). Generation Z & consumer trends in environmental Packaging. Project Report. The Retail Institute, Leeds.
Torrey, J., Orr, J., & Florance, J. (2020). Rapid deployment of national guard alternative healthcare facility with isolation unit capabilities in response to COVID-19. Military Medicine, 186(1/2), 258.
World Health Organization. (2020). WHO announces COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/coronavirus-covid-19/news/news/2020/3/who-announces-covid-19-outbreak-a-pandemic. [Accessed on 26 April 2020].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
van der Schyff, M. (2022). That’s So Hot Right Now: Generation Z’s Technological Use During the COVID-19 Lockdown. In: Olivier, J., Oojorah, A., Udhin, W. (eds) Multimodal Learning Environments in Southern Africa. Digital Education and Learning. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97656-9_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97656-9_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-97655-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-97656-9
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)