Effect of social media usage on the cultural identity of rural people: a case study of Bamha village, Egypt

Abstract

Cultural identity refers to the identical compound of reminiscences, impressions, ideologies, images, idioms, inventions, and ambitions that maintains a human set’s civilizational identity within the framework of what it knows of developments due to its internal dynamism and its ability to communicate or give and take. Social Media’s deep effect on cultural identity is a matter of constant concern. Therefore, the main aim of this research was to recognize the effect of social media on some components of rural people’s cultural identity. This study was conducted on 360 respondents from rural people in Bamha village, Egypt. Our data were collected using a questionnaire in December 2021 and then analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s simple correlation coefficient, chi-square, and the ascending multiple regression correlation analysis model (Stepwise). The results showed that for two-fifths of the respondents (40%) the level of change in cultural identity was high in relation to their use of social media; there is a significant relationship between some independent variables of respondents and the degree of change in their cultural identity. These results have important implications for policy, practice, and subsequent research, the most important of which are: working on developing thinking skills and self-learning among students in schools and universities, as well as the need to activate the role of the media in providing meaningful content that preserves societal values, in addition to employing social media to support community participation of young people on the ground by organizing awareness, volunteer and charitable activities, and finally the need to increase cooperation and coordination between all parties, whether they are media, schools, religious or civil institutions, youth centers, or other institutions to maximize the positive use of social media and to reduce its negative effects.