The paper will address the negative impact of the internet to folk-culture. According to Hine the internet is a link that enables people to share information (32). Folk- culture on the other hand is the traditional practices of the native communities. The paper will discuss the ways in which the internet has caused folk-culture to diminish. Some of the factors are emergence of new cultures, social effects, economic effects, globalization and civilization.
According to Hine, the emergence of sex industry on the internet is a big challenge to the social aspects of folk culture (54). In folk culture sex was considered “sacred” and could only be practiced when one was married. The internet has many pornographic sites that make sex to be viewed as an ordinary aspect of the society. Hine argues that most governments are trying to shut down the sites but they are receiving a lot of opposition from the modern society (78). The young teens browse this sites and eventually some engage in this unethical behavior. People in the old folk culture valued virginity and it was associated with classy women but in the new culture it seems they are no longer valued. The folk culture encouraged people to meet and share stories or experiences. The internet also encourages this but in a different way. People chat on sites such as Facebook but they do not need to meet. This cuts the social interaction aspect as we are likely not to meet new people or share the same idea with many people (Blank, 82).
The emergence of the new and digital culture through the internet is the biggest threat to the folk culture as argued by Blank (85). People fall in love; meet new people, or even flirt in through the internet. Some people try to argue that it helps those who do not have traditional social skills to interact. These actions are not bad but also have some negative impacts (Joinson, McKenna, Postmes, and Reips, 45). The current generation has not embraced the old ways of social interaction. Such actions have led to high number of divorce cases that were not rampant in the folk era. The inter-marriage between different cultures is also a good action. However, this has caused some folk cultures to erode (Hine, 124).
Hip Hop is among of the many new cultures in the world in referring to Ogbar and Jeffery (2). The culture is a combination of the Latin and Africa-American cultures. The internet has helped the culture grow and spread. The followers of hip hop culture view the internet as a great instrument (Ogbar and Jeffery, 56). The new culture has its own unique practices that do not embrace any folk cultures. Ogbar and Jeffery continue to argue that the culture encourages violence as everyone wants to be fierce and have the Hip Hop attitude (67). This is against the principals of folk culture where peace was among the respected virtues. The national geographic also ranked hip hop as a culture yet some indigenous culture are not even recognized.
The folk culture encouraged people to work hard. The introduction of online shopping, schooling, or jobs has caused people to become lazy (Joinson, McKenna, Postmes, and Reips, 69). People no longer do many things and hence lack some majority basic skills. The folk culture ensured that young people learnt new life skills in the fields. The current generation only knows how to play internet games. The internet jobs only encourage them to be profit oriented people instead of enacting some cultural ideas in them. However, the evolution in the way things are done online is not bad. The users should control the negative aspects that affect the cultures negatively (Blank, 145).
Hine states that the internet is one of the reasons why people are advancing (50). Information is passed from one person to another without many problems. However, this has affected the folk culture negatively. People cannot identify themselves as a certain tribe or practice any cultural practices. The users are limited to only do “digital culture” practices. According to Blank sites sometimes do not reflect the true information about the traditional practices of certain cultures (151). The users who tend to believe in such sites help in eroding the folk culture. He encourages people to instead visit museums or read literature books on the culture they are investigating.
The map shows how different continents are connected to the internet. From the map it is clear that places with high internet connection lack folk culture in their society.
Works cited
Adam, Joinson., Katelyn, McKenna., Tom Postmes. & Ulf-Dietrich, Reips. The Oxford Handbook of Internet Psychology. London: OUP . 2007. Print
Blank, Trevor. Folklore and the internet: vernacular expression in a digital world. Utah: USU Press. 2009. Print.
Hine, Christine. Virtual Methods: Issues in Social Research on the Internet. New York: Berg Publishers. 2005. Print
Ogbar, Jeffery. Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap. Kansans: University of Kansans Press. 2007. Print
