Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2006, Page 65

KJATT Á ALNETINUM í FØROYUM
63
already when published as the scene have
changed a lot since 2004. Parts of the re-
sults presented in this text have been pub-
lished in Faroese articles in 2005-06.
Modern media in the Faroe Islands
In the early 1980s television was introduced
to the Faroe Islands. It started with a small
private television company, mostly trans-
mitting Danish emissions recorded on video
tapes in Denmark and posted to the islands.
The following years several other local pri-
vate television companies were established
before SvF (Sjónvarp Føroya), the Faroese
National Television Channel, was estab-
lished in 1984 (Forchhammer, 1998: 13).
At the same time satellite dishes came to
the islands, and the people of the Faroe Is-
lands got access to many foreign television
channels. SvF was therefore from the very
beginning almost driven out by competition.
An emotionally charged political debate
about television’s influence on the Faroese
culture and children’s everyday lives arose
in this context. Articles and reports about the
mtroduction of television in the Faroe Is-
lands were written (e.g. Andreasen, 1981,
Poulsen, 1980). The most comprehensive in-
vestigation compares children before tele-
vision (1981) with children after television
(1991 -92) and concludes that television has
a large influence on children’s leisure time
activities and culture (Forchhammer, 1998).
The media debate in the 1980s in the Faroe
Islands belongs to times past, because new
technologies of information, including in-
ternet and mobile phones, have opened the
Way for forms of communication unthink-
able twenty years ago. The television came
very late to the Faroe Islands, but comput-
ers (with internet connection) and mobile
phones, on the other hand, came at the same
time to the islands as to the rest of the Nordic
region. Today almost all children and youths
have mobile phones and are active intemet
users. At the beginning of the third millen-
nium, Faroese youth belongs to the first gen-
eration growing up with television, com-
puters and mobile phones.
Personal relations
The introduction of the internet to the Faroe
Islands is an interesting development, bc-
cause this electronic media doesn’t have as
is shown exactly the same function and char-
acter in small close societies as has been in
larger societies. The Faroese folklorist
Eyðun Andreassen says in his doctoral dis-
sertation Folkelig Offentlighed (Popular
Public Sphere) (1992: 296) that “in a small
society like the Faroese the personal rela-
tions play if not a more important role then
at least a clearer role than in large societies.
The personal affects the debate on all lev-
els, also the historical debate.” Even if An-
dreassen refers to the debate in society be-
fore the introduction of television, the per-
sonal relations are relevant in relation to
young people’s use of internet e.g. chat and
email. It is difficult to keep a potential
anonymity as a chatter in the Faroe Islands,
at least if you are chatting frequently, be-
cause most visitors on Faroese chat chan-
nels know or have heard of each other. In
that way communication often turns out to
be personal, even if its content doesn’t nec-
essarily reflect “ordinary” face-to-face com-
munication. The visitors on the chat chan-