How the internet has changed world culture - Essay Example

How the Internet has Changed World Culture Introduction There is no denying the wide penetration of the Internet into societies around the world. Nearly a billion people on planet earth access the Internet and use the features that it offers. The Internet therefore has the greatest potential to influence the various cultures around the world, with the potential to lead to a global culture.Influence of the Internet on World Culture The Internet was the result of efforts to link the many computers in use, so that information could be disseminated and shared through such a linking.

However, technological advances in computer technology and networking technologies have resulted in what we can term an Internet boom. The widespread use of the Internet has resulted in a virtual shrinking of the world that has led to the speculation of the concept of the world collapsing into a single Global Village. This leaves us with the strong possibility of the evolving of a new world culture at the detriment of the existing wide varieties of cultures around the world. Many of the cultures around the world are grounded in the religions practised in the surroundings.

These religions have come down the ages and provide instil strong moral flavors to the cultures. Some of these morals may appear orthodox and out of sync with the modern world. Yet, they provide the moral fibers in most of the cultures worldwide. From the perspective of these moral fibers ingrained in the many cultures, the Internet appear “1000 times more dangerous than the television”, making it the “the world’s leading cause of temptation”, “a deadly poison which burns the souls”, as it incites and encourages sin and abomination of the worst kind (Singh 2009, p.46). In other words the influence of the Internet on world culture is to tear apart the moral fibers ingrained in it through moral pollution of the world culture (1).

This criticism of the negative influence of the Internet on world culture stems from the innumerable pages of written and visual pages present in it. For instance, pornographic sites abound in the Internet, providing hours of questionable viewing to any user of the Internet, irrespective of age and gender. The Internet has made it possible for the emergence and proliferation of virtual communities or groups built around specialized interests, themes or cultural identities. Members of these virtual communities or groups tend to devout their time and attention more on these virtual social groupings than the real cultural groups that they belong to.

A consequence of this is the fragmentation of cultures around the world, or in other words the fragmentation of the world culture as has been known till now. Finally, the language of the Internet is English. The pervasive nature of the Internet has led to the spread of the English language over other languages and the cultural nuances present within these languages (1). Conclusion The development of mankind is intertwined with advances in technology, and technological advancers and innovation are inevitable.

The Internet presents potential dangerous changes to world culture. Though technological advances are inevitable, humankind still retains the ability to make choices in the use of technology within its communities. The potential threat of the Internet to world culture can be contained by communities around the making wise choices on how to use the technological advance in the form of the Internet. Works Cited1. Singh Vikram. Impact of Information and Communication Technology on Public Life. Daryaganj, New Delhi: University Science Press, 2009.