Mixing with MXit?

"Heya, whaddup? kau?" Welcome to the world of MXit speak. (For the uninitiated – it means: Hello, what’s up? I’m okay and you?).

MXit has been in the news: it’s cheap, kids love it, schools don't always like it, and then there are parents who wonder whether it could be dangerous.

MXit is growing by the day it currently has 14 million users. South African teens between the ages of 12-18 are currently in the lead as its main users. What exactly is it that makes MXit so appealing?

What is MXit?
Back to basics: MXit is a mobile instant messaging application developed in South Africa. It runs on GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and 3G mobile phones. Users are able to send and receive messages from pcs connected to the Internet and other mobile phones that run the application.

It can be downloaded for free to your pc and phone. Once registered, users can invite contacts. To accept or decline an invitation is at the discretion of the user. Users can also visit the chat rooms by purchasing Moola (Mxit currency). One Moola equals one South Africa cent. With 200 Moola a user can send 100 messages in a chat room.

The biggest benefit by far is that it’s very cheap. It costs a fraction of the standard sms and whereas the sms only has 160 characters, MXit allows for 2048 characters. Apart from chatting to other MXit users, one can also chat to users of other online communities such as MSN messenger, ICQ and Jabber.

MXing
Who hasn’t seen a friend or family member sitting in one spot, eyes clued to the screens of their cell phones. Their fingers move frantically on the keypads, and they only re-enter the real world when they are dc (disconnected) that is.

It’s a whole new world. A different language is spoken, words are abbreviated and acronyms made up. Emoticons and mood changes can be used, making it easy for your contact to know how you are feeling.

People reveal personal and intimate details freely. The anonymity of the medium also makes people a lot less inhibited than they would normally be.

MXit and teens
It is an easy, exciting way of keeping in touch with friends and meeting new ones. But, a sample of teens interviewed by Health24, were generally apprehensive of meeting online contacts. The general feeling seems to be: what happens on MXit stays on MXit.

The instant messaging service also gives teens a sense of belonging to a community – they know there will be someone to chat to whenever they needed it.

Initiatives on Mxit
Mxit has also become a tool for learning.

Math on MXit is a project designed to give high school learners quick and easy access to a tutor to help with mathematical questions. The tutor who is online during specific hours can help provide answers. The service is available for eight hours a week after school.

To promote literacy, MXit introduced Africa's first mobile book. Users can download an entire book for just 50 moola.

MXit has also partnered with Childline SA to provide a professional counselling service for users who feel burdened by stressful situations. The Childline contact can be accessed from Monday to Saturday from two to six pm.

The 'Angel' service on Mxit provides users with information about substance abuse, HIV/Aids, abuse, stress and coping and depression. Users can also find contact details in various provinces for assistance with a social problem.

The dark side
But the instant messaging world also has its dark side. Sexual predators have been using it to exploit unsuspecting users.

Recently, a 16-year-old girl was abducted by a 33-year-old man she had met in a chat room. Luckily she managed to escape. Ironically, police subsequently used the MXit service to catch up with the perpetrator.

These predators often operate in the following manner: they befriend users by pretending to be what they are not. By means of daily contact they build relationships with users. Believing they are genuine, users reveal intimate details of their lives. After gaining the users’ trust they initiate a meeting.

"Teenagers don't understand the implications of risky and dangerous behaviour", says Ilse Pauw, Cape Town psychologist. "During adolescence teenagers are starting to establish a personality. They go through hormonal changes and have more freedom as parents tend to lessen protection. It is also a time when they rebel against their parents and, as a result, engage in risky behaviour."

Be safe
MXit seems to have both good and bad aspects. However, like many things in life, it ultimately depends on how it is used.

MXit has been beefing up security measures, especially in chat rooms. They suspend and ban users that abuse the facility, and have teamed up with the police to identify and eradicate the element that misuse of the service.

Recently Mxit has launched a chat room blocking feature that allows parents to block the chat capability.

Chat rooms are moderated up to 14 hours a day. If a user experiences any abuse they can report it by sending a ".rat" command to Mxit. This gives MXit the authority to see a string of the conversation. A moderator will then intercept the conversation within 6 to 12 hours of reporting.

There is also a link on the site that parents can access. It gives safety tips and explains correct use of the service.

General safety tips for Mxit users:

• People are not always honest about their personal details. She might be a he – and might be 40 years older than you are.
• Don’t believe all the stories someone tells you – you have no way of verifying these
• Keep your number, address and pin a secret at all times.
• Don’t reveal personal information, such as where you live or what your name is. Also think twice about giving the name of your school.
• Keep your online relationships online. Never consider meeting anyone on your own. What you think is the 17-year-old pretty boy from around the corner, might turn out to be a 42-year-old, whose motives could be questionable.

MXit is 30% owned by Naspers, Health24's parent company.

(Leandra Engelbrecht, Health24, updated October 2009)

Sources:
- www.mxit.co.za
- netucation.co.za/parentsguide2mxit.
- www.webaddict.co.za
- Getting into the maths mix, Thabo Mohlala, www.mg.co.za
- MXit launches Africa's first mobile book, http://www.itnewsafrica.com

Read more:
Why teens love MXit
Mxit 101 for parents
Dangerous things to do in chat rooms