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Brainstorm time: Why do non-West country users have less participation on discussion forums? (Read text for context) (lemmy.ml)

submitted 3 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

6 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The USA/West-EU countries make up about 12% of the world's population, yet have about 80% participation on Reddit. Statistics do not differ much for other sites, as I used to have a decent non-anonymous tech blog years ago, where Google and WordPress offered me similar statistics of 70-75% of the visitors being from the Anglosphere.

Is it because the citizens of these countries are drenched in individualist capitalist societal culture, and easier access to fast internet? What else could be the reasons, and cultural cues?

I have felt that it is the core reason for this chaos and toxicity on the internet, where this very kind of immoral self-centered culture became a virtual hegemony over the decades.

It is a thought that strikes my mind often, as someone from India/Asia, and there is almost non existent discussion about this anywhere.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 years ago (1 children)

Could be that western cultures have more free time and/or being physically present has been trained out of people via marketing

[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 years ago

I think this is the case. Virtual presence has been feeded to be more valuable than real relationships.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (1 children)

Was your blog in English, though?

If you take Internet access...

....and cross reference against English speakers...

...then I think that's enough explanation, no?

[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago)

Yes, English. It was a tech blog about comparison of software for Windows, Linux, Mac and Android.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 years ago (1 children)

As someone who grew up in an African country and spent sometime in North America, I would say there are various reasons one can point to [language, economic conditions, nature of available technology etc]. Most conversations in my growing up were ephemeral + oral. Mobile phones started changing the landscape. Facebook and Messaging apps like Telegram, Viber, and WhatsApp changed a lot of conversations from peer-to-peer to 'mediated' ones. I would say that most African-based folks are every social and active in discussions. They are just not in the platforms Westerns frequent, and increasingly so with closed-messaging platforms like WhatsApp groups.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 years ago

I am so glad this post served the purpose exactly for folks like you.