What is Culture Shock in a technological age?

Admit it or not, our world is becoming more homogenous. The invention of the internet was essentially the beginning of the end for any sort of individualism, whether on a personal level, or a cultural level. There are critics out there who claim the invention of Facebook and the worldwide spread of internet access have minimized, if not eliminated, the idea of culture shock when traveling, and this is a bad thing. I’ll admit it, being able to access my email or my Facebook from 5000 miles away is a really nice feature. Peace Corps was founded in 1961, and those first volunteers are much braver than I’ll ever be. They were the one’s willing to step up and move across the world for two years, with no ability to communicate back home but snail mail. It’s a different age today. But is the internet really the cause of the loss or diminishment of culture shock?

I got home from the Dar Chebab yesterday to find my host sister watching Tom and Jerry on Nickelodeon, followed by Over The Hedge (in English, with Arabic subtitles). When I walked in today, Nickelodeon was on again, this time airing Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (again, in English, with Arabic subtitles). I think this is the first clue that the internet is not to blame entirely for the loss of culture shock. I’m willing to admit, I got really excited when I saw those on, and eagerly sat down to watch with her. It was great to get a little taste of home like that.  When my host dad got home, he changed the channel to the news (in Arabic this time, obviously). The first commercial that came on, though, was one of those ‘text this number to get this ringtone’ thing, advertising Adele ringtones. The next was a “Gangam Style” ringtone.

Let’s keep in mind here that I’m currently in a village with a population we guess to be maybe 500 people, on a good day, up in the Atlas Mountains, in the middle of Morocco. It’d be one thing if I was in the capitol getting all of this, but even here, in the middle of nowhere, American culture has infiltrated everyday life. I could go a month without touching a computer or Facebook, and still my level of culture shock would be much lower than even 10 years ago. But how does the internet and Facebook play into this picture? My host sister has already asked if I have Facebook, and what my last name is so she can friend me. Over half of the world’s internet users have an account on the site. Obviously it plays a role here. Traveling has a new dimension to it these days, with my ability to now stay in touch with people I met in foreign lands, plus be able to move away from America for two years and still talk to my parents on a daily basis.

I think having the ability to communicate back home constantly hasn’t necessarily made it easier to be gone for so long, but instead it has just really changed what it looks like to be a Peace Corps Volunteer nowadays. 50 years ago, the first volunteers started in a country without any contact back home but unreliable mail systems. Their culture shock and loneliness was immediate and obvious. There were no familiar faces to fall back on, and they were forced to become independent fast, really fast. The internet has delayed that process and made it easy to hide when someone is struggling to adapt. Sometimes the volunteer themselves don’t even realize for awhile how much trouble they’re having, and it makes for a very different kind of struggle and loneliness than PCV’s coped with 50 years ago.

Instead of being hyperaware of how alone you are, and having nobody to fall back on like the first PCV’s were, today’s volunteers often seem to fall back on an illusion of support. Now, in no way do I mean this to say that all of you back home aren’t supporting me. You are, and I love you to the moon and back for it. What I mean by this is that you aren’t actually here with me, moving from one day to the next along side of me. While it often feels like there are so many people to turn to, the fact is, and I’m still in a village in the mountains of Morocco, learning to survive from one day to the next. The advice many current volunteers have given me is to make sure to fall back on my friends here in Morocco when I’m having a rough day, rather than calling back home. The other PCV’s here are going to be a better support and know what I’m going through, rather than making me feel even more disconnected after talking to someone so far away that really doesn’t know what’s going on here. If you rely on people back home, it can often mask the loneliness or struggles, when really, they aren’t the people who are actually available in the moment. I think the initial ability to stay in touch to people back home via the internet simply delays the feeling of loneliness that is necessary to work through in order to be a successful volunteer. But is this loneliness the same as culture shock? I would argue no.

Not to sound arrogant, but whether we like it or not, American culture is invading the world. Even the parts of our culture that we as American’s don’t enjoy, the rest of the world seems to eat up. If its dubbed as ‘American,’ that’s often enough for it to become the latest trend somewhere. Because of this fact, I would argue culture shock is affecting traveling American’s less and less, although travelers visiting America still face it head on. American culture can really be found anywhere you go, and we as travelers can choose to look at this as the loss of a ‘cultural experience,’ or the chance to really see how the world is evolving. Culture shock is really what you make it to be. Internet or not, Tom and Jerry or not, I will always still find things here that challenge me from day to day and show me a very different way of life.  

The biggest differences that cause culture shock now (and the main reason why I say visitors to America still face a heavy dose of culture shock), is interpersonal relations. The fact that in Morocco, men and women simply don’t interact, and certainly don’t have any physical contact, has been a really tough thing to adjust to. My training group has taken to behind closed doors hugs, since guys and girls can’t hug each other anywhere with Moroccan eye’s watching. But with the ability to get online or watch Harry Potter at the end of the day, I really only face the challenge of different personal relations here. On the other hand, picture a Moroccan coming to visit America. Not only do they need to face the intense change in personal interactions, there are no pieces of Moroccan culture floating around in America to be surprised by at the end of a rough day.

I think ultimately, however you spin it, culture shock and international travel are just simply changing. The world itself is changing, and we really have no other choices but simply to adapt. If I want to experience a new culture, it’s really up to me to put the effort in, and I think, to a point, that was just as true 50 years ago. Technology is changing on us, for better or for worse. Humans are still human though, and culture is what we make it to be.