Africa within the world and the world within Africa.

Africa Group
1°Week :  "The internet generation : A new global society."

Africa within the world and the world within Africa.

Internet, it’s a whole new revolution that could concern all the countries and civilizations. My 5 years old sister knows how to use it, my father has never touched the computer until he knew about the use of internet. It’s a powerful mean that can offer you the access to anything you want, you type a word and you get hundreds of different websites offering what you’re searching for, I no longer worry if I miss a TV program or don’t find a book in the library cause I know I can find it all on internet. In Africa and more specifically in the Maghreb where I live, Internet has opened many new doors to people to know more about what’s going in the world and it has also created a link between them and the rest of the world countries.

In the first part, Internet has made people more affected by the developed countries’ lifestyle. Watching American series, TV programs … made them open to a new way of thinking, a new concept of things but unfortunately the social reality sometimes doesn’t allow this, the society still preserves its own traditions and authentic lifestyle so certain people and mostly teenagers have a problem confronting reality or simply living the life they want which is the case of the most of African countries. On the other hand, this still helps the other people accepting more the things that they never used to be open to and making them ready for a change that could make their lives better and easier.

Internet here, also helps people expressing themselves more and fighting for certain causes that could not be approved by the government or the society such as the L.G.B.T rights or political manners. In Tunisia which is my country, revolution started on Facebook, people were sharing posts against the president, calling people to protest, revealing the corruption of the government, uploading videos to incite people to move, and everything was going on the internet because the government couldn’t control it even though we didn’t use to have YouTube and certain other websites.

Internet also helped us being more cultivated about the world, being more communicative with people from other countries, and it made us proud to have something to share with the world and I was feeling so good every time I could know my country is offering something through internet even though we can’t deny, this is still controlled by the most powerful countries, for them, it’s a way to spread the things they want, to make you think in the way that suits them, to give the image they want about anything … 

Hence, I think that people here should start being more productive on internet and help affirming the presence of Africans in the world instead of only receiving and being influenced. 

By Duroy, Tunisia
20 years old