The growth in internet use has affected cultures around the world, Essay

The growth in internet use has affected cultures around the world, leading to a westernised, homogenous culture - Essay Example This is so especially in the case of internet, which is a rapidly growing service almost available and accessible in all parts of the world. The internet, thus is known to have a major influence in people’s lives, their values, traditions as well as culture. This influence is steering the minds of the users into a westernised path of life. However, on the other hand, people are also seen to work towards the uplifting their own culture, as more and more languages are added to the internet in the present time, in order to increase the number of local users. Therefore, growth in the use of internet brings the whole world together into one large westernised homogenous culture while people also follow their own local cultures. Since the ancient times, the superior cultures have almost always had their influence on other cultures. This can be seen by taking the example of the British rule over India, Africa and such other countries or even when the Germans gained control over France . The dominating country always tried to imbibe their way of living as well as culture on the suppressed. This has both benefited the oppressed country as well as had negative influences too. But basically, taking the case of India, the country is in a much better position in terms of intellectuality and has been able to grasp modernity more because it was once under the rule to the British government, which was the driving force back in those days. Now with the advent in technology as well as with the creation of the mass communication computer network called ‘Internet,’ it is easier for the leading countries to promote their own culture. Now the difference here is that, in the olden times people were forced to accept the culture of the dominators, whereas now they have a choice, where they can choose whether to accept this culture or not. In the present world, globalisation aims at â€Å"interdependence† between different countries â€Å"rather than dominanceà ¢â‚¬  of developed nations over the developing or underdeveloped ones (Samovar et al. 2009, p.296). Internet is like an exchange forum, where people communicate and they come to understand the cultures of other people and also share their own cultures in this process of interaction. Internet is growing and now possessing its own culture, it is known by different terms such as â€Å"super-medium, meta-medium or a hybrid-medium† (Elm, n.d., p.85). It is this medium that enables the formation of various â€Å"virtual communities† throughout the world, resulting in a global coming together of people belonging to different nations (Hongladarom, n.d., p.2). Now the main people behind the development of such a medium are obviously the Westerners, who have always remained a superpower, and it becomes clear that the United States as well as UK has major â€Å"cultural and commercial influences† on countries all over the world (Chapter 4, p.49-http://wlxt.whut.edu.cn/new /wlyx/Resource/PaperAnswer/chap04im.pdf). As mentioned earlier, this paper aims to evaluate the influence of internet use in bringing together different cultures into a more homogenised one through the fields of business and language. Both these fields are interconnected and it is possible that when one aspect is taken into consideration, the other may be a prevalent affecting factor there. In order to know