In Yemen, Facebook, Qat, and Veil
Increasing use of the Internet in Yemen today has managed both to increase people-to-people connections and reinforce some traditional customs.
The Yemeni people are among the best at social networking. They can spend four to eight hours chewing qat, a mildly narcotic plant, and chatting about almost everything. Politics gets the lion’s share of their discussions. In fact, official working hours usually end at one in the afternoon, and there are no major activities they can do after work. Chewing qat has become a daily habit for millions of Yemenis, and it is an activity that requires sitting in a closed room.
These social discussions, however, have started to dwindle during the past couple of years. Participants in these debates are now tied to a virtual world, outside the room they are sitting in.
