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For Good and Bad

Оглавление

The Internet can be used for good and for evil. Those in control of governments during periods of unrest in such places such as Egypt and China have censored the Web, even suspending access to YouTube and Twitter in the effort to preserve their power by controlling what the people in their countries were able to say and see over the Internet. However, tech-savvy activists usually find ways to circumvent such Internet controls. In fact, the Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East played out on a global digital stage.43 The numbers of people going online to follow world events or for social networking continues to grow.

The digital divide, which refers to inequality in access to technology and the Internet, is shrinking. Minorities, the elderly, and the poor are going online in greater numbers, democratizing access. Still, gaining access to computers remains a problem in many places around the world because of high poverty levels and the absence or unreliability of electricity.


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Let us close this section with some questions for you to think about. When you go online, do you seek to interact in communities based on difference or likeness? In other words, how many of the sites you visit online are visited by people who think and behave similarly to you, and how many are frequented by people who think and behave differently from you? Do you think the Internet is better at creating more insular communities, or does it foster interest in diversity?

Communication Skills

Practice Communicating Interculturally


Despite technology’s inroads, there are too many of “us” who do not work as hard as we should at communicating with people from different cultures, simply because we do not wish to live or interact with “them.”44 To counter this, we need to make reducing the strangeness of strangers a priority in our lives. How can we do this?

Focus on mastering and maintaining these skills as you work to eliminate ineffective behaviors.

The Communication Playbook

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