You call that a handshake?

Through many years the most known gesture was a handshake. It expressed respect and friendliness to the other person. Today, people managed to develop their gesture which mainly presented their cultural identity and individualism.

The functionalist theory suggests that symbols and practices surrounding popular culture brings people together by generating a shared sense of social solidarity. So, today, the way you greet someone expresses the society and culture you come from. In-fact, it could represent the subculture you belong to. For example, hip hop fans have certain gestures they understand and interpret in their own way. While on the other hand, Kings and Queens have very different gestures that expresses their belonging to a royal family.

 

But today, a gesture doesn’t only represent your society or culture it symbolizes individualism. People now greet each other with different gestures than the culture or society they belong to and no longer need to commit to their society’s gesture. For example, in many of the gulf regions men greet each other by nose. However, this gesture is not preformed by every member of the society, some people prefer to greet each other with a high five or just a hand wave! 

 

 

A hand shake is no longer the ultimate gesture and the most recognizable one.  Many high school and college students have created their own unique gesture to greet each other and most of them agreed that a handshake expresses formality. So, greeting someone with a handshake is now conceded a professional gesture used for strangers and older people!

 

While observing my friends way of greeting each other, I’ve noticed that each person greets in his own way. In the Arab regions, there is the confusion of kisses. In the gulf region girls greet each other with three kisses on one cheek while in other countries girls greet each other with one kiss on each cheek. Also, in most of the Arab countries, men don’t greet women which sometimes could lead to an embarrassment to both sides.

On being a You-Tuber!



When the internet began invading our world, we started gaining and doing things differently. There is no doubt that the internet has shaped and changed our lives. So, instead of saying, "Look it up" We now say, "Google it" And  instead of saying watch it  we say, "You-Tube it!”

We think of you-tube as the ultimate multimedia website. The place where videos of everything exist, from education to meditation and entertainment. Many people now depend on You-Tube as their morning coffee! If you looked deeper into the meaning that You-Tube have, you would find many more other definitions than a multimedia web site. Simply, You-Tube is not a video site. You-Tube is the largest cultural community in the world wide web.

Some might say that You-Tube has the same effect of Facebook and Twitter on people, but there is nothing that influences people more than visual scenes and You-Tube provides it. This major web site allowed people to access many different cultures, through songs, movie trailers, vlogs, "How to" videos and sometimes even tutors that help you get your homework done.

You-Tube could be defined with the three definitions that Garzian used for popular culture. The reason is that, without a doubt, You-Tube is liked and successful and that successes is demonstrated by the amount of subscribers in the site. The second reason is that You-Tube has many popular, famous figures such as Dan Brown, Shane Dawson, Mitchell Davis and many others. Also, You-Tube is generated for the lowest common denominator which explains the verity of you-tubers.

The topics we search for in You-Tube, mostly don't exist in our country or society or otherwise we wouldn't have been searching for it. If you tried counting how many times you've searched for something in You-Tube that exists within your native country or society, you would definitely use your fingers to count them! Maybe that is the concept of You-Tube; to provide a dinner that through it we could get a taste of other cultures without the need to leave our rooms. 

You-Tube is a major community for cultural exchange known as "Cultural Diffusion." This great web site doesn't only hold millions of videos, it holds millions of subcultures. Personaly, I think that you-tube is more than a video site, to me, its a new world I enter just by clicking "Subscribe."