The presentation and performance of women's selfhood and identity in Pakistan, in both the real and the virtual world, is dictated and shaped by the male-dominated cultural mores of Pakistan. Therefore, drawing upon Goffman's notion of self-presentation and everyday performance of selfhood, this paper explores digitally active Pakistani women's selfhood and identity presentation through qualitative interviews with ten Pakistani women from diverse backgrounds. Participants’ narratives revealed identity conflicts between their offline and online identities due to the control exhibited by the prevalent cultural norms and values. Similarly, offline cultural mores of the veil seeping into the online world operate as a patriarchal means of controlling women online akin to the male-protected family and home as a sacred sanctuary providing security to the family women. Pakistani women's experience of the online world is also defined in terms of “digital veil” and “digital sanctuary”. Findings reveal that Pakistani women social media users’ offline self-presentation clashes with their performance of selfhood in their virtual lives. This divergence and resulting identity crisis of selfhood is shaped by cultural regulation which adversely affects Pakistani women's lives. Extended research on social and cyber culture in offline and online identity formation with respect to psychosocial implications is recommended.
YouTube grow into one of the potential commercialization platforms after the inception of the Internet. Users can decide the content of the video by subscribing to popular trends. This research also aims to examine the motivation behind YouTube usage among the young generation in Pakistan. The researchers employed a descriptive quantitative approach and gathered data from n= 105 respondents from young students. Results indicated that the YouTube watching pattern among the students of AIOU showed that students use YouTube to satisfy their cognitive needs and gratify their personal, effective, and social integrative needs. Students also use YouTube for tension release. The majority of the students of AIOU use YouTube to get extra information about the topic they want to prepare for their exams. The students use YouTube to clear their concepts about specific topics and courses. Thus, it is concluded that students watch an aspiring video on YouTube, and they not only get entertained and are also motivated by these videos. Further, the research has concluded and highlighted significant study limitations accordingly.
Although social media is a vital platform in our life, it is blamed for poor efforts to moderate content included mis/disinformation and fake news. This could have an impact on its legacy and on sustainability in society in the long term. This research examined the role of social media in spreading misinformation during the COVID-19 outbreak in Jordan. A cross-sectional design questionnaire (350 responses) was used. The results revealed that social media played a key role in updating users with COVID-19 information. However, the availability of misinformation remained highly prevalent. Respondents revealed that they relied heavily on social media for information gathering and knowledge sharing about COVID-19 updates. The role of behavioural intention remained prominent and highly significant for these two reasons. Their behavioural intention was linked to the sharing of unchecked information, suggesting that online information in Jordan needs greater regulation to reduce the spread of misinformation.
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