Wow. I feel like the topic of social media usage around the world couldn't be more timely. The news coming from Cuba saddens me greatly, especially after 12 weeks of being fully immersed in the educational and knowledge sharing power that web 2.0 brings. Can you imagine if your government just turned off Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, or Instagram? How would we do our homework...let alone communicate with our personal learning networks...
It's not uncommon for authoritarian governments to display this type of power and it's not the first time that disrupting access to social media has happened in Cuba. Reports from the other week shared that Cuba suffered a widespread general internet outage and then when everyone got back online, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Signal, and Telegram were almost impossible to access from the island. The privilege to access social media and educational technologies is a lot to process as we come to the end of a semester where I didn't have to think twice about accessing the tools we explored.
References:
https://www.anywhere.com/cuba/travel-guide/internet-access
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/cubas-internet-cutoff-tactic-global-despots-78804049
Hi Emily thank you for sharing this. As someone who comes from Venezuela, sadly I can identify with this and the struggle the Cuban people are facing. It is the worst and why people are putting their lifes on the line to achieve freedom.
ReplyDeleteHi Emily,
ReplyDeleteThis was an eye-opening post. I read your link to the anywhere.com article. This quote stuck out to me, "The cost of using the Internet is prohibitively expensive for most Cubans. At an Etecsa office, it costs CUC4.50 for one hour of access to the international Internet network, and is CUC1.50 for access to the Intranet and email. Most Cubans receive a monthly salary around CUC20 (about $20), making it nearly impossible for them to afford regular access to the Internet."
This is basically saying that a person would have to spend 20-25% of their monthly income to access the internet. The 'world wide web' connects us-except when it doesn't and most people are unaware.
Very timely post Emily, I think we here in the US take many things for granted, not least of which is the ease of access to the world wide web. Even in situations where people cannot afford access, they still have the option of using library services. What I found most interesting in the article is how Cuba is not alone, and that other governments around the world regularly use this tactic to suppress dissent. Hopefully, this will make us think about how fortunate we are, and what we can do to help.
ReplyDelete