African and Latin American Youth and Teens Learning
to Use Smartphone Technologies
William Jackson, CEO MetaverseWP and My Quest To Teach
Metaverse Education Program Director of the World Metaverse
Council and Technology Opportunity Specialist for Tristan’s
Acceleration Academy https://tristansacademy.com/
The growing passions for technology consumption
is building for youth and teens across Africa and
Latin America. An economic boom for companies
offering online games, apps, adventures and even
gambling. Brick and mortar of the traditional stores
are going out of business and disappearing
so digital apps on phones are important.
According to 2023 CNN Cyber Mondays are the
highest grossing online shopping days in U.S. history.
Spending has reached $1.25 billion. An increase
over 20% from 2010 and expected to grow even
further with the availability of secured online security.
There are apps that allow for shopping directed at a
person’s interests and retailers marketing based on
culture, race, gender and age.
African and Latin American’s are not excluded from
the opportunities to purchase items that were out
of reach and unaffordable at one time. The new technology
careers, jobs and positions are paying higher and providing
more social comforts. This awakens the minds of African
and Latin American youth and teens to their buying power
and influences.
The evidence of the Digital Divide globally is shrinking
slowly, but not fast enough for business owners, with
Smart Phones and Tablets leading the way for providing
unprecedented access to online content. Apps that are
small computer applications have grown tremendously
offering additional connectivity to global markets. The
growing use of digital shows that African’s and Latin
Americans are almost even with Americans in purchasers
of Smart Phones. Technology has opened up the capability
for virtual traveling, ecommerce, political and religious
exchanges and socializing on a global scale.
No longer are African’s and Latin American’s restricted
or confined from digital access, there is growing digital
social media presence like Facebook, Instagram, and
others that have global applications. Youth and teens
across Africa and Latin America are discovering their
same interests and connecting forming friendships,
partnerships and even discovering through Ancestry
that they are close family ties with DNA & RNA coding’s.
People should remember that slavery was 100 years
in the Caribbean before it came to the United States.
So genetically families in Africa are connected to
families in Latin America through the slave trade and
shared blood.
Content is creating a first impression and first
impressions are always powerful; African and Latin
youth and teens should use this knowledge to be
empowered about what their social presence is
saying about them. Social content can be used as
a resume to highlight knowledge of and proficiency
with technology, the level of professionalism you
display with technology and networking connectivity
to the business world. Networking in sites such as
LinkedIn can display associations with businesses
this can be beneficial by opening doors and create
collaborations.
Influence of Africans and Latin American youth
and teens makes technology fun and exciting,
Their creativity, innovation and imagination are
collectively powerful and influential. The life of a
young technologist is constant movement and
deployment of digital skills.
There is great use of ingenuity and creativity for both
Latin and African youth and teens. They should learn
about the history of Smartphone technologies.
Martin Cooper of Motorola is credited with making the
first handheld mobile phone call in 1973, the work of
Jesse Russell, an African American inventor, laid the
groundwork for the technology that made
cell phones possible. Russell trained as an electrical
engineer at Tennessee State University an HBCU
Historically Black College and University recognized
globally as a thought-leader, technology expert and
innovator of wireless communications. An African
American legend, in 1995 Russell was inducted into
the National Academy of Engineering for “pioneering
work in digital cellular communications technology.”
This is information youth need to know to continue
to inspire their influence in STEM Science, Technology,
Engineering, Mathematics and integrating The Arts.
Data and Statistics with Nielsen and Pew data shows
that overall, 80% of Latin adults say they access
the internet via a mobile device such as a cellphone
or tablet. This is their primary way to access the
Internet and a growing number of Latin families are
able to get on the metaverse with mobile apps.
The world is getting smaller and smaller, the power
of Latin American families and African families
if they were to join together and find their DNA
and RNA are similar they are long lost family
members. Their purchasing power, financial
influence and potential to have new powers
and financial growth because of being related
because of the slave trade.