Bratton, Michael. "Citizens and cell phones in Africa". Africa Affairs, Vol.112, No.447 (2013): 304-319.

Bratton, Michael. "Citizens and cell phones in Africa". Africa Affairs, Vol.112, No.447 (2013): 304-319.

• Cell phones and other communication technologies are political neutral, with the potential to be mobilized to improve administration and enhance democracy, but also to spread disinformation and encourage violence, or to increasingly monitor political dissidents (305-306).
• Internet usage is relatively uncommon in Africa, with only 25% of the adult population having even used a computer, and that proportion varying between countries. Cell phones are much common, with 87% of adults having used a cell phone at least once, with this number having grown rapidly in the past two decades (307-308).
• Cell phones are used for voice calling, but some groups specifically reserve their cell phones for alternative functions like, the cheaper, SMS messaging, or for electronic banking (309).
• Most Africans owned their personal cell phone, with communal ownership and sharing of cell phones being relatively uncommon in most settings. In fact, ownership and usage of multiple cell phones by the same person was more common that communal ownership of phones (309-310).
• Men, those living in urban areas, and wealthier socio-economic groups are more likely to own and use cell phones than women, those living in rural areas, and the poor, however these variations are relatively small, with cell phone ownership high among all social strata in most African countries (310).
• Increased cell phone use is very highly correlated with increased knowledge and awareness of national politics, and well as political participation in a variety of social settings and political activities. The only measured political behavior it is not correlated with is voting, raising questions about whether other 'political effects' are simply coincidental (312-314).
• Cell phone use is not productive of additional social capital among societies in general, with avid cell phone users actually more likely to distrust their fellow citizens and current power structures than other citizens. They are more likely to support press freedom than others, but also more likely to view political violence as legitimate (314-316).
• Perhaps the biggest political impact of cell phones is in erasing previous divisions in political activism between urban and rural areas. With cell phones, residents of rural areas are just as able and likely to access political information and to engage in political activities as their urban counterparts (317).