Perceptions of how the cultural ‘other’ uses information technologies were not included in the key informant interview guide. The issue emerged spontaneously in the informants’ discourse about the misuses of technologies. It was prevalent in their discourses to the point where the trajectory of their articulations led to a separate domain of analysis. In a way, it complements the analyses of cultural impact on perceptions of ICT and their usage, and adds another layer to the understanding of the narrative of Tunisians’ attitude towards ICT.
The ‘Arab mentality’ discourse brought up earlier in this chapter about the misuses of Facebook emerged often in the discourse. Hajir said: “I see... I think for Arabs... people didn’t use it to advance themselves, because they can do that if they want to. They can use it to improve their lives, but they don’t. I think before was better. Now even birthdays, they announce them and put them on Facebook.” Baraa sees the West as taking more advantage of the technology benefits: “They (the West) use it for the positive… very rarely do they use it in a negative way... mmm... Maybe a little. But they are more clear than us, ok? They created pornographic sites to make it clear… the (the user) knows… if that is what you want to do … go on do as you want,
you are free. Things are clear... Us? No. We only take the negative. If we used the Internet for good intentions... Just take a look at the Tunisian Facebook. If you ask them if they know something, like... A religious question, they would say, what is he talking about? If you get one or two comments you should be happy. But try to put a picture of a naked girl... then, you will see all the comments and discussion you will get. So really, we’re not using this technology for good reasons. It’s all about ‘our mentality’. Technologies, did not improve our society. It’s not the Internet that didn’t improve our society. It’s us who didn’t let it improve our society. It’s our mentality, the Tunisian mentality that didn’t let us improve. The Internet is a ‘manipulable’ tool. It’s like playdough, and you can do anything with it.”
Monji (61 years old from Kalaa) had a similar view to Baraa’s, he said: “Everything in these new technologies has a good thing and a bad thing. From my point of view. It makes everything within reach, you can find everything. The negatives are only for us, the Arabs, because us, especially the youth, when we take the positives, we take only very little, but when we take the negatives we take everything. But as a communication medium, it is just
extraordinary. Someone can be in America, and you can see him/her within seconds. A letter used to take two months to get to you. Phone is very expensive, especially to call Europe. Today, you can see someone anywhere in the world.” What is most intriguing in the discourse about the West, is the fact that the respondents were aware that ICT play a role in social progress and development. Almost all of those who brought up the topic, mentioned that Westerners use ICT to advance their societies.
The comparison with the Arab society takes an almost regretful and nostalgic tone that the Tunisian or the Arab societies in general are not using ICT as productively as the West is. When this discourse is put in the context of their narrative about their usage and the relevance of
ICT to their lives, one cannot find an articulation of the benefits of ICT to personal and social development (except for youth educational benefits). This is significant in a number of ways. First from a digital divide perspective, it adds to the understanding of the global divide and the effect of the perceived benefits of ICT to cultural adoption or rejection of information
technologies. From a techno-capital perspective, this further explains the lack of usage despite the prevalent ICT ownership as the respondents do not perceive it to be well used by their entourage, and thus do not have the group disposition to encourage acquisition of techno-capital to “do” what their peers are doing.
In contrast with the view discussed above of the West vs. the Arab society, other respondents had a more conspiracy-theory inspired narrative. Qassem, the retired government employee, an avid reader and poetry writer, meticulously chose his words as he described the ICT in relationship between his culture and the West. He viewed technology as a means of economic control of the West over the Arab world and criticized the overwhelmingly quick adoption of technologies by Arab societies. He explained his point of view saying: “The
technologies are great, today is way better, no doubt. But anything that goes too far is bad. In the Arab world, we consume technologies, we don’t produce them. Everything that comes out, we quickly get it, whether home technologies, or automobile technologies. This was the purpose of the West, to produce these technologies to keep us slave to it so they can always control us with those technologies. They give us what we need with very expensive prices. This creative
revolution is in fact an anarchy revolution and is a result of technologies and advancement in weapons and the technology of destruction. Technology is an evil that we can’t do without. We’re a consumer society and we need the technology but we can’t produce it. We do not ‘create’.” Habib had a lesser tendency to espouse the conspiracy theory in his discourse than
Qassem, but still expressed his concern over the knowledge gap between the Arab societies and the Europeans. He took the opportunity to stress on the need to follow the path of “the
Europeans” to advance our societies as he reported: “I think it’s good for the new generations. They have to advance with science and technologies. Because if we don’t advance, like the Europeans, they advance and we go backward. We have to follow them, we have to advance like them or better.”
In previous research studies about Arab cultures’ view of the West from an information technology perspective, the Arab respondents appeared to be concerned by the technological advantage and dominance. Albirini (2006) demonstrated that Syrian interviewees had a similar - to the Tunisian interviewees- ambivalent attitude towards the Western technological
advancement. Some of his respondents appreciated ICT communicative and informational qualities while others complained about the Westernizing effect on the kinship-based and
conservative Syrian Society. In general, people all over the Arab world fear the corrupting effect of ‘Westernization’, which fosters a negative discourse towards the West and the exported technology (Albirini, 2006; Jandt, 2016). Several researchers (Hill et al, 1998; Albirini, 2006) attribute the skeptical and distrustful perception of the ICT to the religious-based cultural values of the Arab societies. This line of argument contends that the more conservative the society, the more resistant it proves to be to technological adoption. Albirini (2006) stated that “computer technologies, like most other tools, select, amplify, and reduce aspects of experience in various ways. This aspect of the new technology may pose a threat to conservative cultures that value their own experiences.”