Our society depends on the Internet as a means of communication which is relied on all around the world. This communication can take place in our homes, different businesses, schools and other institutions exchanging important and valuable information. However, the Internet has also become a tool for exchanging casual and personal information among individuals as well. This is true especially among young adolescence and teen girls mostly utilizing the Internet for staying in touch and connecting with friends.
Not only is the Internet used for girls staying connected to their friends but it also allows those individuals who have been displaced from their comfort cultural zone an opportunity for long distance communication. Our book uses the example of the diasporic Korean girls that use Cy World to recreate their feminine culture. It is an attempt to recreate the environment to which they feel accepted. "In the U.S. they are essentially labeled outsiders or underrepresented minorities" (GWW 92). Therefore they use Cy world (which allows them to actively participate with their friends from which they have become displaced) to recreate the nostalgia they yearn for. This form of communication gives these girls access enabling them to correspond with the girls back home thus making references and gestures that only the girls in that particular culture are familiar with. For example the Korean girls yearn for a small face, they base their idea of beauty on the face of the typical American model or actress. Therefore they have a universal language of making specific hand gestures which reinforces this particular belief.
The girls in the Middle East live in a conservative culture and must utilize Internet communication in a different way. With their culture having such strict expectations of women, it's imperative that they are careful when they interact on the computer. It is of the utmost importance for a girl to maintain a positive reputation in their culture. Therefore when they communicate via SNS they must be cautious not to pose such risk. Any harm to a girls reputation affects not only them but their family members as well. With that being said, the girls that choose to use Face book or any other type of SNS ( social network sites) are more interested in the network as a form of communication as opposed to a place expressing their self identity. Many of the girls that were studied in Qatar have no images of themselves on their network site and find creative ways to post images allowing some form of expression(GWW 34). Some use bumper stickers and exchange them among their friends. These virtual stickers are humorous messages and displaced on profiles showing personalities allowing them an opportunity to freely express themselves (GWW 34) in an anonymous way without potentially causing problems otherwise.
For the girls that live in cultures that have a more relaxed view of what is accepted behavior, they tend to utilize the Internet (IM) to communicate and keep in touch with friends expressing self identity in their own unique ways. IM allows them to multitask, performing many duties at once. Such as, they can be on the computer doing homework and searching the web while having a discussion among friends all at the same time. Many of these girls have advanced typing skills and are experts at performing multiple duties. Although this sounds like a great idea, it does at times cause problems. With the privacy of these conversations and the lack of adults to monitor, they can use inappropiate words or ideas, exclude and block friends, and even go the lengths of bullying or starting rumors among their peers. This is a problem and continues to grow in our society.
Although some girls rarely have the opportunity to experience computers and the convience of IMing due to the lack of computer access. With technology being so expensive, certain social classes don't have the chance to be connected to the virtual world ( II 123). This is known as the digital divide and can exclude an entire social class from the world of technology.
In conclusion, although the Internet is used to exchange information in our homes, businesses, schools and other institutions, it is also used to converse on a personal level among individuals. This is especially popular among adolescence girls and teens. This means of communication (IM) is widely used in our society. These girls rely on this communication in different ways determining on their geographical location and the culture in which they live. One aspect they do have in common is that they yearn for the constant reinforcement of their peers to which they are familiar with.
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