When I was there it was 2007 or so, so I can only speak for the time that I was there. As for the culture it isn't quite what many people think it is. There aren't just 'tribal' people running around with facepaint. Those sort of costumes/shows are put on for tourists. The island economy, to me, seemed fairly reliant on tourism. The Rapa Nui put on dancing shows and sell sculptures/jewelry/other works to tourists for money. They're also reliant on the 'mainland', Chile, for many things. There's a flight that goes between Easter Island (aka Rapa Nui, which is the name of the island, as well as the indigenous people, as well as the Rapa Nui language) and Chile, as I recall, only a few times a week. I can't remember the exact number but it might have only been 2 times a week at the time. I believe the flight is LAN Airlines. Anyway, they get shipments of food and supplies and whatnot from that plane. Chilean culture has a large influence on the island. For example much of the food there (there are several restaurants) is ordinary South American cuisine, for example ceviche is popular there.

As for the people there is generally a more easy going, accepting feel to them. From what I could tell (and my grandpa has remarked on this before) it's not so much apart of the culture to mock/make fun of people in a mean spirited way. It's just not done too often. Although, I do know that some people born on Rapa Nui are eager to 'get out' and go find a job on the mainland. Another random thing-- they love to drink. Not in the 'oh they're drunkards!' way, but just in a 'let's kick back and drink' sort of way. Red wine mixed with Coke is popular. You'll sometimes find old Coke things there in general, like old red Coke lawn chairs. Also wakes (I attended one while I was there) are done mostly outdoors and are, basically, public parties. It's a celebration of life and they cook a shit ton of food for everybody. One big barbecue. I can't recall the name for it but (and I know this is done in other cultures as well) they cooked a pig by digging a hole in the ground and putting leaves and stuff over it.

Save for a bigger hotel for tourists that's a bit of a drive from the main town Hanga Roa (there's only one town on the island, really) it's not upscale living. I mean, it's not a ghetto (there's electricity, running water), but some of the homes are fairly dilapidated/getting toward run down. There aren't many cars there, it's very common not to own a car. From what I remember most of the roads are dirt, bit I can't remember if all of them were. As for internet at the time there was an internet cafe for that. The internet wasn't so fast.

Hope that answer satisfied your question!

EDIT: Forgot to mention, what few cars are there are for the most part old Jeeps. Random fact.

EDIT the 2nd: I should have made it more clear, the pig was already dead when it was being roasted. Don't worry, haha!