GLOBALISATION and information technology has spearheaded development, improved access to information, and brought the world under one roof into a one big village. The global village has enabled us to circumvent the laws of distance, speed and time.

These days it is easier for news to travel from one part of the globe to the other, irrespective of distance and time. Our universe has not only become smaller, every place and person is brought nearer and accessibility is measured by distance and time from the Internet café. Accessing information on the Internet has now become more than a right. Nowadays people can find friends, relationships, even marriage on the Internet.
It’s amazing how the Internet technology in the global village is changing our socialisation patterns on a daily basis whilst we watch in admiration. It is an accepted fact that information freedom has been propagated to a large extent by the global village revolution but are we applying the level of responsibility that comes with our freedom?
Plagiarism, one of the rampant academic sins, has increased due to the availability of so much information on the Internet. Searching for a subject, thesis or dissertation, one can find it easily on the Internet and walk straight to the graduation podium. This behaviour is that it hinders scholarly creativity and promotes academic laziness and undermines academic progress.
This is because Internet does not edit, censor or verify the validity and accuracy of material facts posted on the Internet. The web is becoming a platform to legitimise information as long as it is on the Internet, this leaves us exposed to desktop professors and doctorates graduates who cannot apply their research experiences for the benefit of the nation.
There is an Animal Farm belief that "if Internet says so it must be right", this is a highly misleading assumption and it must be corrected. Whilst we acknowledge the positive attributes of globalisation to information society, it is imperative for us to question our moral and social values insofar as the global village and Internet technology is concerned. As a nation we should not leave our social and moral ethics at the mercy of global village, information and communication technology. Our society should move with time at the same time striking a balance between technological advancement and our social values.
When we talk of advancement and development the human element constituting moral and social values is critical and that balance has to be established. To what benefit is gaining technology whilst it strains the social and moral values of our people. In the premise, as Zimbabweans we have a social and moral obligation to harness the positive benefits of technology and remain a people embedded in their value systems.
Internet has become a hub of some destructive information; there are many websites offering illegal materials such as pirating, hacking and fraud softwares. For example, there is a website called kaaza.com, which provides users with a lot of software and information to acquire gadgets for use in hacking and electronic fraud.
The website can even teach one how to make an explosive device. Imagine how many people have access to this site and what risks we are exposing ourselves to? What are we doing as authorities and society to manage this risk? Internet is providing challenges in the legal fraternity and it is becoming so complicated and difficult to curb some of the crimes made convenient by the Internet.
In Zimbabwe we enacted several laws to deal with copyright infringements, pornography through the Censorship and Entertainment Act and other relevant legislation but all those Acts are being infringed upon by the Internet. Despite having enacted laws against pornography it is easy to access pornographic materials at anytime, anywhere in Zimbabwe.
Companies like Facebook have created a platform that enables people to interact at the same time send messages to unlimited group of people. This has resulted in people sending anything on the sites whether obscene or vulgar and there is no privacy, the information can be seen by lots of people on the web. The site does not even look at the harmful contents being sent through their networks. Platforms such as these are creating space attacking both our ethical and moral values.
Recently in the United Kingdom there was a call by the government and other parts of the society to regulate the way Facebook operates. Their arguments were on the premise that Facebook should be tasked to control the information flowing through its networks. It was after a blog was set up on Facebook and pictures of three people accused of murdering baby Sinclair were published on Facebook, thereafter the whole issue was open for public opinion. Concerns were raised to the effect that such practice interferes with the due process of law. It prejudiced and compromised the case both for the accused and the defendants.
The global village is creating sub-culture in people that is enslaving both our minds and physical capacity to function normally. There is too much reliance of information technology gadgets to the point of creating addicts of these gadgets.
Three out of five people cannot function well without either a cellphone or access to Internet. Even in church, meetings and conferences some people are not even ashamed to set heads turning as they rush for the door to answer a call. I have a colleague who is so obsessed with texting, in church, he is always doing something fancy with his phone sometimes I wonder whether he is listening to anything at all and if he leaves his phone at home no matter where he is it affects him in a way that he cannot function properly. Honestly, this constitutes a disorder of the highest order! It’s amazing how people are so enamoured by these gadgets.
The exposure that our children are prone to as a result of Internet and communication technology calls on parents to act decisively and in a rational manner. We need to ensure that we become responsible for our children and minimise the risk created by information and communication technology. Children and youths are being exposed to harmful materials on the Internet, cellphone and webcam texting chats, sites like Youtube and Facebook.
Service providers of information and technology in this country should be tasked to ensure that access to sites that show pornographic and harmful materials are barred especially for the young. These sites corrupt the minds of our children. At home parents should just make sure that they programme their Internet to deny access to adult viewing otherwise we will nurture a future generation that will live to disrespect our social and cultural fabric as a people.
Over a period of time I have observed the growing trends of school-going age with cellphones. That’s a good idea for communication purposes but are parents aware of the other sides of this privilege? What our sons and daughters doing with these gadgets at school or outside school? Sometime in July this year, I was watching Doctor Phil on SABC 2; the show was looking at the subject of texting and the content contained in text messages among children of school-going age.
One girl from Kansas in the United States could send 34 705 text messages a month averaging 1 156 text messages a day, 49 messages every hour and the girl confessed to waking up as early as 4am having slept nearly at midnight and this is a 13-year-old girl. Her parents, who only knew about this behaviour after receiving a bill of about US$ 1 500, were shocked to see the awkward hours their girl was up texting .
On the same programme a couple was almost in tears after discovering that their daughter and friends were busy sending pictures of themselves naked and the pictures were circulating at school. This is madness! In Zimbabwe, I have noticed that three in every five children of school-going age own a cellphone and the numbers are likely to increase given the number of parents in the Diaspora. Are parents geared up to finance these gadgets considering the pressing financial needs of today? Are we aware of the potential risk we are exposing our children to? Do we have time to monitor how our children use these gadgets?
Young boys are resorting to risky behaviours such as stealing, gambling or kufaya madhiri (doing deals) to buy airtime for their cellphones because most parents cannot afford airtime at the rate these dudes use phones. As for our daughters, some will end up hooked in some affairs with sugar daddies or young boys to finance their habits.
One thing leads to another, before you know it your son or daughter is entrapped in a series of destructive behaviour that could ruin their lives forever. As parents, we have a responsibility, we owe it to our children to enforce discipline and nurture a responsible incorruptible future generation based on our ethical, moral and social values. I’m the father of a four-year-old boy. All the time I look at him with a smile on my face my joy immediately turns me to shivers when I think of the huge responsibility that lies on my shoulders, not only to put food on the table and provide education to him.
I’m more haunted by the desire to protect and guide him in view of the challenges that lie ahead of him as he grows up. I think of him when I enter Internet cafés and see children in school uniform playing games, downloading musical tones for their phones and iPods checking celebrity news and the latest snickers on the market around 10am, when they are supposed to be in school and no one in this day and age has the nerve to question these kids.
I’m not underplaying the remarkable progress made by in information and communication technology but we should not be blinkered to accept this system as it is. We need to harness the good in the system at the same time guarding jealously the moral and social fabric of our society. Our society and our children are exposed to a lot of things that we do not have control over, we might not afford some of these things in our houses, but it does not mean that it’s not a cause for concern. What we need is a collective initiative as a people to respond to challenges being posed by the global village, information and communication technology on our society.
As Zimbabweans we have a social responsibility to ensure that what we term positive development in any area of our life is harnessed in respect of our social and cultural values. Relevant stakeholders should come together and strategise on how to curb the effects of information and communication technology on our people. We have a duty and responsibility to protect our society and future generations.

Retlaw Matorwa is a social justice practitioner and a journalist. He can be contacted on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it