Globalization and Internet Poverty

Globalization is the spread of information, culture, ideas, and products (among other things) across the world. Globalization would take an extremely long time to occur if it were not for mass communication; technological advances in mass communication have made the transfer of information and the purchase and sales of material to be as quick as one could imagine.

Think of fashion; without the mass production of printed magazines or the internet, the styles of other countries would take weeks or months to be seen elsewhere. When it comes to information and news, the internet helps us learn what is happening across the world at any moment. The internet has enabled almost anything to reach a global point. If anyone is curious about anything, there is a high chance that they may learn about it by simply searching the internet. [1]

Despite the fast rate at which one may communicate with another person in a far away land, the internet is not completely globalized. Many underdeveloped nations do not have the same luxuries as others and therefore information and culture does not reach these lands. The giving and receiving of culture is not provided well for these countries; this is referred to as "Internet Poverty". [2] This idea of a lack of technology reminds me of Tropic Thunder (2009), where a a third world country village's only luxury is an actor's failed movie on VHS. Who uses VHS anymore?

I do believe however, that internet will eventually reach the far edges of the Earth that it has yet to reach. Once this occurs, there will be a continuing sharing of culture which may eventually lead to a lack of authenticity to cultures.





1. Hardt, Hanno. Myths for the Masses: An Essay on Mass Communication. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2004. Print.

2. Norris, Pippa. “Information Poverty and the Wired World”. The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 2000. Print.