Internet Practices of Turkish Youth

Abstract

Turkey ranks 7th in Europe and 13th in the world in Internet use. As a non-hierarchical realm, internet, instead of enabling individuals a limitless space for movement, has become an area where surveillance and supervision have become obvious and freedoms are constrained. The first section of this study examines the Internet experience in Turkey where users are aware that they are being monitored and have feelings of dismay while browsing the Internet. It will address the reason of delay of the arrival of communication technologies to Turkey, starting from the printing houses operated under the governance of government 200 years after the West, the relation to this situation of surveillance and with Turkey’s tradition of democratization and politics. The second section deals with the emergence and legitimatization of Internet in Turkey as an underdeveloped country. Arguing that the Internet and new technologies encompass utopian and dystopian aspects in one pot, the last section will point towards a survey on attitudes of university student users. Thus, Turkish people’s opinions on surveillance and prohibition will be manifested. The the study will strive to provide insight to the dilemma between Internet’s liberalization, democratization and surveillance potentials within the context of Turkish society.

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n7p374