In: Psychology
How do you think the spread of social media is likely to shift patterns of culture? Do you think culture around the world will become more similar or more different as a result? Why?
Spread of social media has transcends not only the barriers of physical boundaries but also cultural and sociological ones.
People of different culture are coming close to each other , appreciating the rituals, festivals and other culture specific practises with the unprecedented vigour.
People have also started celebrating the festivals which were never celebrated in the region. One such example is celebration of Christmas in whole of South Asian and south east Asian nation. Specially some people and society in India who have not been related to Christianity started celebrating Christmas as one of the main fedtivals.
Moreover, social media has diluted the linguistic barriers. Even those initially opposed to loss of linguistic diversity, today accepts English as one common lanfulan of communication.
Dresses and fashion around the world have started converging with socialisation and trends set on social media. With the help of social media , people in Africa can see and imitate what a person is wearing in America. This is not a hypothetical assumption rather a reality on ground. Jeans have become part of every society dress.
Thus , it can be said that society will become more similar in terms of culture as a result of social media.
However, one new development can be seen on social media itself where campaign to save the peculiar aspects of one's culture has also started emerging. This if successful can certainly arrest the homogenisation of culture assisted by social media.