Ethnocentrism refers to the viewing of values, beliefs and practices of our people as the same to all other people. Ethnocentrism has two main effects. One of the effects is that it may make cultural imperialism to develop. Cultural imperialism develops because an ethnocentric person may insist that a person from a different culture should assimilate his values and culture (Floridi, 2010). In addition, an ethnocentric person may see it fit to destroy or exploit a person who fails to adopt his image.
Several ways exist where a person communicating with someone else on the Internet may be seen as ethnocentric. Cultures from the west favor low context/high content communication styles. Such styles concentrate on direct and explicit forms of communication. This communication style concentrates on the message instead of the circumstances surrounding in the message. It makes most people from the west to prefer communicating using text. In contrast, cultures from African and Arabia favor high context/low content communication style. Such style focuses on indirect form of communication for example eye contact, physical environment for the delivery of the message and body distance (Floridi, 2010). When a person communicating through the Internet uses only low context/high content communication style, he will be promoting ethnocentrism.
Ethnocentrism may also arise when a person uses his/her own language when communicating with people from different countries (Floridi, 2010). Most people use English while communicating with people in the Internet. Internet joins people from different countries who speak different languages. It is wrong for people to use only English while posting messages on the Internet. Most companies post advertisements in their national language. People from different cultures may not know the messages that these adverts contain. This represents ethnocentrism. Different cultures also have different religious beliefs. It is therefore wrong for a person to assume all people are Muslims or Christians when posting religious messages on the Internet.