Abstract
The world is facing a technological revolution which is associated with the
advancement in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). In South
Africa, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has brought many
opportunities such as the ability to allow people to exchange knowledge, become
entrepreneurs, and lead to increased job opportunities. At the same time, it has also
highlighted the wide inequalities as far as access to ICT is concerned. The history of
apartheid in South Africa has left many working-class communities with inadequate
basic infrastructure. These social conditions have exacerbated working class
communities’ limited access to the benefits of the ICTs. This work builds on the
previous work ICT advancement in the township space.
This dissertation investigated how the advancement of technology, especially the
advent of smartphones affected the livelihoods of black internet café owners in
Katlehong. This paper used the theoretical framework focuses on Information
Society and Network Society by Manuel Castells and argued that the increase usage
of smartphone in townships is slowly replacing internet café businesses. This
qualitative study was conducted with ten black internet café owners in Katlehong
township aged between the ages of 30-40. In-depth interviews were conducted with
the participants.
The findings demonstrated that most participants agree that technological innovation
is helpful because they have internet café business because of technology. This
business has enabled the community to access to internet at a cheap price.
However, the findings also show that participants are not benefiting fully to ICTs
because they lack financial resources, good living circumstances and access to
basic needs, such as electricity, houses, clean water, and toilets. As a result, the
businesses of the participants operate slowly, and they lose customers. The findings
also showed that internet café owners are complaining about the high usage of
smartphones because their businesses are affected. The participants have noticed
that smartphones have become an integral part of their customers’ lifestyles, and this
has impacted how their businesses continue to operate.
It was revealed that the experience of all participants is not the same, even though
they are from the same community. Furthermore, the experiences of black internet.