WHO IS responsible for the erosion of our culture? Some say it has been through technology, social networks and colonisation.
Every society and culture has its own ways of socialising, it has its own way of training and shaping children from childhood.
Some years back children played different types of games as they were growing up.
They had different games which imparted different sets of values.
They played house (mahumbwe/amatopi), a sociodramatic play meant for practical training on basics of marriage. In this game, the members assigned roles such as father, mother and even children.
They had to act like adults responsible for a family with the mother being in charge of the household chores.
However, parents today are exposing their children to European cultures and lifestyles. This has eroded the value of marriage.
Before colonialism grandparents used to share stories in the form of folklore and this inculcated in the young important moral values that they were supposed to embrace.
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The degree of interaction between the elderly and the young is no longer there.
That link between the young and the old has been replaced by social media sites which are ladling the wrong values into the children with overwhelming generosity.
The young now spend most of their lives with earphones plugged into their ears, either watching movies or listening to music that glorifies sex, violence, drug abuse and all the vices that we can think of.
Adults told stories to the young in order to help preserve culture. There were also games that were played to help in sharpening and teaching children to think faster like riddles (zvirahwe/amalibho, nhodo/ingwithi) which was crucial in imparting knowledge, sharpening memory and reasoning ability.
However, all these elements have been obliterated by the wave of cultural imperialism from Western popular culture.
Parents no longer spend time with their children. This has taught children not to value family and even when they grow up and become parents, they will pass on that culture.
Parents are too busy making money that they have negated their role and maids have taken over the parenting role.
Because of the destruction of the fabric that binds the family unit, children grow up in dysfunctional families and they end up taking the same attitude into adulthood and marriage.
The increase in divorce cases shows how much the marriage institution has been destroyed.
Social networks are ruining our cultures as children have lost their dignity.
They are now exposed to adult content before they are mature. A 13-year-old girl can upload her nude pictures on Facebook for everyone to see, including her own parents. This used to be a taboo, but these days it has become permissible.
In capsule form, cultural imperialism and new media technology has killed our society.
Cleopatra Magondo is a film and theatre studies student at Midlands State University
