Elon Musk's Starlink Brings Internet To Isolated Amazon Tribe; Youngsters Get Addicted To Social Media And Pornography (X image@AlphaTrilogy)

The Marubo tribe dwelling in the Amazon rainforest has preserved its unique culture and language for a long time. It was all alright until the introduction of internet service. Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite has technically breached the peaceful isolation of the tribe. While the connection to the outside world has brought opportunities, challenges are inevitable, and are sometimes at the cost of losing tribe’s social decorum. Young generation of the tribe has become addicted to social media and pornography, said media report.

The 2000-member Marubo tribe got introduced to the outer world through internet in last September, as Starlink launched its service there. Elon Musk’s company aims to provide internet to the remote locations using the low-Earth orbit satellites.

73-year-old Tsainama Marubo said that everyone was happy when the internet arrived. The service has brought benefits like video calls with the faraway loved ones and emergency calls for help. “But now things have gotten worse”, as quoted by New York Times.

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The Brazilian tribe faces a fundamental cultural dilemma regarding the use of the internet and its impact on their culture. Tsainama complained that “young people have gotten lazy because of the internet…they are learning the ways of white people”. However, despite the complaint, she also pleads not to “take our internet away”.

Leader of the Marubo association of villages, Alfredo Marubo, expressed his concerns to the New York Times. He said that the young people are now glued to their phones, chatting with friends, and accessing inappropriate content. He is especially worried about the spread of pornography. “We are worried young people are going to want to try it,” he said. Marubo noted that some leaders have observed aggressive sexual behavior among young men. There are also worries about the young people want to leave the forest, as they became more and more aware about the outside world.

The tribal people usually spend their day hunting and working. Since the young generation started to show laziness and phone addiction, including social media, aggressive gaming and adult contents, the tribal elders took measures to control the usage of phones. Access to internet is now reduced to two hours in the morning, five hours in the evening, and all day on Sundays. The measure is taken to restore balance in the community, mitigate negative impacts, and utilise the advantages of the digital world.

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The internet also proved to have positive benefits. The antennas to the services were donated by American entrepreneur Allyson Reneau. The tribe members highlighted how internet has improved emergency response times. In the past, the tribe used amateur radio to relay messages between villages to reach authorities. Since the introduction of internet, communication became instantaneous. Some believe that the internet could give new autonomy to the tribe. As it enables better communication, and access to information, it also provides opportunity to tell their own stories.