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An isolated Amazon tribe provided with the internet has struggled with social media addiction, online scams and porn, leaders have said.
Last year, the Marubo people, living in a remote spot along Brazil’s Ituí River, were given access to Elon Musk’s high-speed satellite service, Starlink. However, elders say they have seen a social decline among the tribe’s 2,000 people and a growing laziness, which has led to a lack of food.
Leader Enoque Marubo, 40, who was instrumental in bringing Starlink to the tribe, said people were no longer hunting and growing food because they were glued to their phones. “In the village, if you don’t hunt, fish and plant, you don’t eat,” he said. Eventually, elders decided to cut off the internet for two hours in the morning, five hours in the evening and all day Sunday to address the issue
But other issues have been more challenging to tackle, such as violent video games and abusive online strangers. “Everyone is so connected that sometimes they don’t even talk to their own family,” Enoque said. He said he was most concerned by pornography, adding young men were sharing explicit videos in group chats in a culture that frowns on kissing in public. "We’re worried young people are going to want to try it,” he said of the graphic sex depicted in the videos. He said some leaders had told him they have observed more aggressive sexual behaviour from young men.
Tsainama Marubo, 73, added: “When it arrived, everyone was happy. Now, young people have gotten lazy.” Initially, Starlink brought connectivity, providing quicker forms of communication and benefits such as access to TV sports.
Faster medical help has also saved lives, including from snake bites, instead of having to rely on citizen band radio to send messages via villages to reach aid. Despite the challenges, the tribe does not want to give up the internet. Enoque conceded: “The internet will bring us much more benefit than harm.” Even elder Tsainama implored: “Please don’t take our internet away.”
Amazon rainforest tribe handed internet - but it leads to unfortunate addictions
The Marubo people, who live in a remote spot on Brazil’s Ituí River, were given Elon Musk's high-speed satellite service, Starlink, but have struggled with a social decline and growing laziness
www.mirror.co.uk