Global Media and Cultural Identity: Opportunities and challenges for Morocco in the Digital Era

Abdesselam Ferrati

doi:10.36892/ijlls.v2i3.673

Abstract

Anthropologists and media analysts have long recognized the Internet and satellite channels as some of the most powerful tools that add tremendous value to the knowledge and experiences of youth. A common interpretation of this idea is that new media technologies have become an important source for information, news updates, cross-cultural communication, socializing, and entertainment. The effects of these tools on young people have predominantly been studied with respect to academic as well as health features. Drawing on data from a survey capturing the digital behaviors of Moroccan students, this article complements previous studies by examining the impact of Internet and satellite channels on the behaviors of Moroccan students. It explores the implicit and denotative consequences of modern media upon the values, behaviors, and lifestyles of young Moroccans. Further, the paper addresses the effects of the massive dissemination of global cultural products on teenagers’ attitudes towards their cultural values. Additionally, the research assumes that inducing behavioral change is overlooked once media outlets start demonizing the uniqueness of local cultures, thus ignite resistance to unconventional values among youth.

Highlights

Global communication technologies have transformed the world into a global village and turned attention to external events at the expense of local realities
For Talal Abu‐Ghazaleh (2010), the president of Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID), this growth in Internet use among Arab users shows that “the number of Internet users increased by 300 percent in the world between 2000 and 2008, while in Arab countries the ratio is reaching 1200 percent.”
Despite the restraints that families might impose on young people’s Internet habits, the globalization of the Internet and TV programming through miniaturized digital devices like smartphones, iPhones, and iPads has certainly demonstrated that parents can no longer interfere with their children’s viewing preferences

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Global communication technologies have transformed the world into a global village and turned attention to external events at the expense of local realities. The Internet, known as a global system of computer networks and information superhighways, has become an extremely significant tool for disseminating global cultures and for distracting individuals from issues related to domestic and local events This condition can be described as “cultural disaffection” where families and societies are endangered by the alienation and dislocation effects that are associated with different global media. This process provides us with a mass of cultural resources through which we can all have access to varied, multicultural material more than ever before Such ongoing changes in the media environment raise new and important questions as few people would deny that the new technologies play a central role in our lives: our homes are saturated with media, and we live in a digital sphere where teenagers carry miniaturized portable media with them wherever they go. It creates wealth and poverty and introduces fresh threats and opportunities

MOROCCAN CULTURAL IDENTITY IN THE INFORMATION ERA

RESEARCH SETTING AND TARGET POPULATION

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION