Five unusual ways Nigerians use smartphones

Smartphone ownership has grown exponentially in Nigeria in the last 10 years. According to a recent report, over 62 per cent of Nigerians now own smartphones. Hence, mobile phone penetration has increased geometrically.

Phones, whether smart or not, serve different hilarious and sometimes unconventional purposes for Nigerians. Below are some of the unusual ways Nigerians use smartphones:

1. Serve as torch when there is power outage

Torchlight is a very important smartphone feature. Perhaps, this feature was added because the makers are aware that electricity is unstable in Nigeria. For this reason, the mobile phone torchlight is highly appreciated by Nigerians. Everyone, from a market woman to a chief executive and the taxi driver, uses the torchlight. It will always come handy when power is abruptly interrupted. This is funny because it was never meant to be aggressively used for this purpose.

2. ‘Lie’ about your location

Have you have done this before? Yes? Hmmm…phones have made it very easy to tell a lie. Unashamedly, in a commercial bus in Lagos, a man will tell lie that he is close to the location of the meeting. Meanwhile, he is still in another state. Worse still, some of them are yet to leave home. Since there is no way you can confirm, you have to be patient and wait for the person.

3. Shouting on the phone

Shouting on the phone is one of the ways you can identify some Nigerians. Although this practice is on the decline, quite a handful of people still do it. They are verbose and disclose their private life on the phone without being worried that they are in the public.

4. Serve as wallet

The back of a phone serves as a safe place to keep money even though only small amounts can be kept there. The reason for this, though unlikely, may be that mobile phones are handheld.

5. For wooing girls

There are now Facebook and Instagram girlfriends. In other words, virtual girlfriends whom people have never met and are not intending to meet anytime soon. Some people are experts in wooing girls on the social media but they suddenly become tongue-tied when they meet an amiable and stunning lady!

source: Punch