The only two telecommunication providers in the UAE—Etisalat and Du—are majority-owned by government subsidiaries. This monopoly means that broadband charges, TV conscription, and cell phone services are comparatively expensive, although both companies offer a reliable service in return. It often surprises visitors that an Internet connection is possible miles out into the desert.
Owing to cultural and to security concerns, some international Web Sites are blocked, and somewhat frustratingly for foreign visitors, Skype and WhatsApp video services only work intermittently. Sometimes these blockages are for security reasons, or because the material a site carries is judged to be obscene. Content of a sexual nature is restricted but graphic violence is usually tolerated. Occasionally, the blocking removes access to other connected sites that might be wholly inoffensive.
The online streaming company Netflix is now popular, and people also watch TV shows via a VPN network, although these are also sometimes blocked by the authorities.
Cinema outings are a popular pastime, but be warned that young audience members frequently chatter or play with their phones during the movie.
The strong taboos in place against unmarried men and women meeting up are being modified by the use of cell phones, since people can send messages to each other or use Bluetooth technology to initiate and sustain conversations at a chaste distance.
Alongside Qatar, the UAE has the highest social media penetration of any country in the world at 99 percent, according to a 2017 report by Hootsuite and We Are Social. Most Emiratis have at least two phones, one for communicating with family and one for work or friends. Many regard this social connectivity as both a blessing and a curse for Emirati society.
Photo and video sharing networks are hugely popular. According to a 2017 survey by the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority, 96 percent of Emiratis use WhatsApp, 78 percent use Instagram, and 62 percent are on Snapchat. Facebook is more popular with expatriate residents.
Emirati girls enjoy posting their photographs online, but most are careful to ensure that certain pictures don’t get into the wrong hands and compromise their reputation for modesty. Relationships before marriage are still taboo, and a single Emirati male (or his mother) will research any prospective Emirati bride on social media, to make sure she has been maintaining a wholesome reputation.
For some young men, social media is a way to explore illicit relationships. Some are experimenting with the dating app Tinder, which in the UAE is used by a significant number of prostitutes and other foreign women who see the financial value in having a relationship with a wealthy Gulf Arab man.
The UAE has become a magnet for filmmakers in recent years. Blockbuster franchises such as “Star Wars” and “Fast and Furious” have both been filmed in Abu Dhabi, and Dubai has been the location for “Star Trek Beyond,” as well as several successful Bollywood movies. In an effort to cultivate a home-grown media industry, Abu Dhabi hosts film companies and app developers at the TwoFour54 media zone that overlooks the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. The Dubai Film Festival shines the spotlight on hundreds of Arab-made films each year, as well as attracting international stars to its red carpet.
Abu Dhabi is also exploring TV opportunities: Sky News Arabia, launched in Abu Dhabi in 2012 and 50 percent owned by Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation, broadcasts across the Middle East and North Africa; and National Geographic Abu Dhabi, the official Arabic language edition of the National Geographic Channel, was launched in 2009.
The most reputable of the English newspapers is the Abu Dhabi-based broadsheet The National that was set up by former editors of the UK’s Telegraph newspaper, and is a trusted source for local and regional news.
Like elsewhere, most people in the UAE now consume their news digitally through social media, which unfortunately means they are exposed to partisan content that merely echoes their own sentiments. Media laws forbid the press to report on anything that could damage the UAE’s economy, meaning the perspective is inevitably rose-tinted in its outlook.
The Emirati culture of the UAE is intangible, remaining invisible to the vast majority of its visitors and expatriate community alike. To find it, you must be willing to look beyond the tourist enclaves, and try to form connections with the local people.
It is a country facing both the past and the future. There is a genuine and deep respect for the traditions and cultural practices of the past, even as society speeds into the future. The Emiratis embody this combination of past and present in a fascinating way, by understanding and accepting alternative forms of thinking, without wishing to change their own religious perspectives. With Expo 2020 on the horizon, the UAE continues its urban development at a pace not for the faint-hearted.
There has never been a more exciting time to visit the United Arab Emirates than now, when the country’s young women are taking over positions of corporate and governmental power, and Dubai and Abu Dhabi are carving reputations as international business hubs. Culturally it is making its mark with the opening of the Abu Dhabi Louvre Museum in 2017. Multibillion-dollar theme parks are part of the commitment to developing the area as a center for leisure.
The UAE’s biggest export to the world is no longer oil, but hope, which it beams out to all its regional neighbors that are racked by war, unemployment, and political bickering. There is hope in the belief that the future technologies the UAE now embraces will provide solid foundations for a post-oil economy, and hope that cultures can coexist together—not necessarily on equal footing, but peacefully.
On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, 2017, The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi spoke of UAE’s future:
“I am highly optimistic about the next fifty years, despite the fact that we live in a region facing various challenges and different viewpoints. However, I am confident that the UAE is just like a light in the dark. I am not exaggerating. I am citing figures, and figures do not lie. Regardless of the challenges it is facing, the UAE is a good model for the Middle East region. How many positive messages were sent from the Middle East to the rest of the world in the past sixty years? Well, your country sends a positive message to the world each and every day.”