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.

Introduction and research problem

There is no doubt that the diversity of cultures influences how individuals comprehend themselves and others, as well as how they arrange their dwelling places (Zhukova and Schrenk, 2016). Individuals’ cultural frame is crucial as social, economic, ethnic, lingual, and spiritual disparities can contribute to cultural discord and imbalanced personalities. In general, getting to know the cultural identity of people and their associated characteristics is important and will positively reflect on achieving stability in communities. When discussing cultural features, it is impossible to avoid mentioning the cultural experiences of individuals. Social encounter refers to both personal and collective occasions that are characteristic of a gathering of individuals with common convictions, ideas, languages, traditions, and norms. Inner change occurs within the setting of different socio-cultural elements and has a remarkable capacity for forming personalities (Samoylova and Marita, 2013).

Looking at the subject of cultural identity in Arab, African, or Middle Eastern philosophy, studies on this are few, but Western philosophy focuses on the issue of what it implies for an individual to know himself progressively through a specific period of time. Therefore, how a person’s personality continues through time is the most important of these issues, which Western philosophy has historically concentrated on. Persistence of ideas, practices, and reminiscences is thought to represent the individual on a personal level. In any case, ideas are formed in a social setting, which is ordinarily interceded through social standards. Cultural Identity refers to the individual’s character that includes specific experiences, socializing, abilities, aptitudes, convictions, views and information. What kind of person is he, then? What is his or her position in the home, job, school, and college in the community and the nation? Moreover, another meaning of such a term as identity might be the obvious and hidden parts of the self, which influence an individual’s character building (Dzhurinskii, 2014). These contain race, sex, subordination, and physical and mental capacity. Identity factors are not steady or anticipated but rather they react to both a specific time outline and a readiness to alter. As a result, multicultural identity is seen as a multilateral, interconnected combination of social class, idioms, progeny, norms, customs, and practices that penetrate and influence nearly all aspects of our life. Each of these dimensions has an impact on how people perceive the universe and their own convictions (Popov, 2013).

Hence, culture which may be characterized as a society’s way of life, including elements like how people see birth and death, is thus a crucial component of the social structure. Culture has more than 160 logical definitions. Therefore, it is so hard to define culture because this concept has so many different meanings. Firstly, culture could be a social item that each individual creates over the course of his lifetime. There are four definitions of identity for a term like personality, including individual distinctions, tenacity, steadiness, and demeanor of the person to his action. In contrast, common components of culture include ethnicity, sex, religion, nation, dialect, knowledge, profession, time, belonging, and position. These categories create a clear perception of cultural identity and indicate definite social structures of culture (Voronina, 2019).

Self-esteem is a term used to describe a person’s set of self-perceptions. Upbringing variables, including peer sets, media, family, and teachers have an impact on whether a person develops high or low self-esteem. Given that the average person’s world has shrunk in the current era, it is more challenging to comprehend this phenomenon (Kamalova and Valiullina, 2019).

When we examine our modern life, it is clear that media appears as a very potent platform that has defined our value framework, cogitation method, and viewpoint on life. Today, the media serves as a powerful instrument to influence societies rather than just being a means of communication. Without a doubt, the media presently play a noteworthy portion within the acculturation operation.

Modern technological development has produced new virtual areas of interaction, resulting from technological developments, which are represented in social networks that have transformed reality into circles full of daily developments, which provided the opportunity for broad and branching communication despite the distances, resulting in a new culture that differs from the culture of the traditional society that is based on customs and traditions (Zemmouri, 2011), where communication technologies and information transfer are considered an important pillar in building the human social, economic, political, and cultural system, as ages developed through the first stages, including agricultural, industrial, and informatics (Gates, 1998).

Thus, social networks played a key role in social and human relations, and the delivery of fast news, text messages, video clips, and various information of interest to a person in his daily life, which helped spread its use in abundance, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (Rabeh, 2010). These networks also represent spaces for building individual identity and displaying oneself in the public sphere. They are a window through which individuals who use them view the subjective worlds of others through the self-portraits that they publish on their personal pages or through narrating the facts of their lives daily (Lolly, 2017). This overlap between the subjective world of the individual and the external public world of others leads to reshape the cultural norms that determine the identity of individuals (Al-Hamami, 2012), and therefore, every nation must preserve its identity in light of the spread of communicative globalization, by learning about other cultures while maintaining cultural pluralism within a framework of balance and integration, to work to support the national identity and establish its primacy (Muhammad, 2010). In this context, this research tries to identify the effect of using social media on some components of the cultural identity of rural people.

The means of communication have multiplied in recent years as a result of scientific progress and the technological revolution, and the Internet revolution is the most prominent manifestation of technology that has outperformed all other means of communication, due to the freedom and ability it provides to create a virtual world in which the individual feels comfortable and interacts with others, and thus, it has become a fundamental role in the behavior of individuals. The percentage of Internet users in the world increased, reaching about 48% of the total population, and in Egypt, the number of Internet users via mobile phone reached about 32.76 million users, and via USB Modem about 3.27 million users, in addition to ADSL high-speed Internet subscribers, whose number reached about 4.95 million subscribers (The National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency, 2017). From these statistics we note the development of the spread of modern means of communication, and despite the many advantages of these means, they also have many negative effects, most notably their impact on the cultural identity of individuals and the value system to which they adhere.

Accordingly, the Media’s profound affect could be a worrisome issue, an issue which has extensively been discussed. The uneasiness is more around the line in which societies follow. Due to these issues, it is hard to develop a fair methodology to evaluate the influence of media on societies. Yet, finding out how much our socio-cultural features, values, and attitudes are being impacted is more crucial.

Based on this general question of the study, some other questions were formulated as follows: What are the social, economic and communication characteristics of the respondents in the research area? What are the causes behind respondents’ utilization of social media? What is the effect of respondents’ utilization of social media on the respondents’ cultural identity components? What is the relationship between some of the respondents’ social, economic and communication characteristics and the degree of change in their cultural identity? How about the positives and drawbacks of utilizing social media, according to respondents’ opinion?

Research objectives

In light of the research problem, the objectives were determined as follows: the main and general objective of the research is to identify the effect of respondents’ use of social media on their cultural identity with its following components: language and method of the dialog, community participation, belongingness, time respect, freedom, and family cohesion. Each component includes five statements that reflect its content.

This objective was achieved and measured through a scale consisting of three levels: increased, did not change, decreased, and grades were given 3, 2, and 1 respectively in the case of positive statements and vice versa in negative statements, and total scores were collected to express the change in all components of the respondents’ cultural identity as a consequence of their utilization of social media; That is, the effect in this research means the amount of change in the cultural identity of rural people after their use of social media.

In order to achieve this objective, several sub-objectives have been formulated to help in that, either directly and fundamentally or in an indirect and auxiliary manner, which are:

• 1. Identifying the social, economic, and communication characteristics of the respondents in the research area.

• 2. Identifying the reasons for respondents’ social media utilization.

• 3. Identifying respondents’ utilization of social media effect their cultural identity components (language and method of the dialog, community participation, belongingness, time respect, freedom, and family cohesion).

• 4. Determining the relationship between some of the following social, economic, and communication characteristics of respondents: age, gender, educational status, marital status, number of family members, occupation, monthly income of the family, number of years of using social media, number of hours of daily use of social networking sites, number of websites used in social networks, and finally the means of accessing social networking sites, and the degree of change in their cultural identity.

• 5. Determining the relative contribution of the studied independent variables in explaining the total variance in the degree of change in the cultural identity of the respondents.

• 6. Identifying the positives and drawbacks of utilizing social media, according to respondents’ opinions.

Academic and practical contributions

The contemporary family is exposed to many pressures that require new cultural and social visions and policies that keep pace with the requirements of this technology and its ability to impose itself on society with the means of attraction and temptation that carries to prevent its resistance, which seeks to penetrate the cultural and social structure, the value system and work to weaken it with the aim of replacing it with strange values on society and patterns of behavior.

Whatever the case, and whether we acknowledge the importance of modern technological means or underestimate the size of their importance, we cannot overlook the change that occurs to individuals as a result of their use of these means, including this change of various aspects of human life from acquiring skills, self-learning, controlling information sources, changing social relations and influencing value.

The importance of the research can be summarized in the following points:

• 1. It discusses an important topic that is characterized by rapid change and development in what it presents and the matters related to the values, standards, and behavior of society.

• 2. Society needs to raise awareness of the dangers embodied in this technology, especially in light of malicious propaganda and blind imitation.

• 3. Presenting a scientific study on social media and its impact on preserving cultural identity in the Egyptian countryside, the field in which there are not many studies.

• 4. Presenting a media scientific study that reinforces the previous studies, and contributes by adding a research issue and a new experience in study and analysis, especially with regard to an important topic like this.

• 5. In light of the research results, measures can be developed through which people can ration the use of social media if it negatively affects their ideas and values.

Theoretical framework

Firstly: Concepts related to the research

Identity

Identity represents that spiritual bond that binds individuals to their societies so that they seek to build it and raise their status, by preserving the most important components of the nation represented in religion, language, dynasty, history, and culture, as individuals organize the meanings of their lives and experiences around a central identity characterized by relative continuity through time and space, (Giddens, 2005), and Rashad (1997) defines identity as “the code through which an individual can identify himself in his relationship with the social and cultural group to which he belongs, and through which he is recognized as belonging to that group.”

Cultural identity

Cultural identity refers to that 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 and give or take (Al-Jabri, 1998), as Al-Mahrouqi (2004) defined it as “individuals’ belonging to a local, regional or national linguistic group, with its ethical and esthetic values that distinguish it, and this also includes the history, traditions, customs, and way of life of the group, and individuals’ sense of belonging to and participating in the community, and it is for each individual a kind of basic equation by which he decides in a positive or negative way - The way in which he belongs to his group”, while Al-Tuwaijri (2015) defined it as the fixed, essential and common destiny of the general features that distinguish the nation’s civilization from other civilizations, and which makes the national character a character that distinguishes it from other national personalities.

The cultural identity has several components (Lesly, 2009), which are:

• A. The national language and dialects are associated with the existence and development of a people.

• B. Religious and national values formed through the ages.

• C. Customs, traditions, norms, and values.

• D. The history of people struggling to preserve their identity as land, values, customs, traditions, and norms.

Virtual communities

It means “a group of people who share common interests, and are not necessarily bound by geographic boundaries, ethnic, tribal, political, or religious ties, interacting through social networking sites. They are social groupings that arise from the network, where enough people continue their discussions in public for a sufficient amount of time with enough human feelings to form networks of personal relationships in cyberspace (Chan et al., 2004).

Bodhan (2009) defines it as “a virtual space for the exchange of discussions, dialog and meetings between individuals and it is called a public space open to all, in which individuals live with each other a symbolic life away from real life, and do not feel any barriers and communicate among themselves freely”, while Jaber defined it (2003) as “communities consisting of geographically separated people who communicate through electronic networks, and a kind of feeling, loyalty and participation results between them”.

Among the most important features that distinguish the virtual community are (Mazeed, 2012):

• A. The fall of the reference to community in its classical meaning, as the online community is specified through the joint benefits that collect individuals who had never met previously.

• B. The boundaries of geography do not play a role in the formation of virtual communities.

• C. An individual can find someone to communicate with in virtual communities around the clock, as they are societies that do not sleep.

• D. It is not based on compulsion, but on choice.

Social media

Social media plays a significant role in our lives since it encourages our global community’s association and interconnecting across cultures. Individuals can communicate and interact with data that are effectively available on the Internet thanks to media for social interaction. Social media is now increasingly prevalent in everyday schedules and designs due to the rising number of Web clients in today’s society. The communication that takes place in these online settings encourages interactive discussions that deepen comprehension of other points of view. Everyone in the internet is a publisher and a reviewer because social media gives users the chance to share their thoughts with the world and engage in debates and dialog through a common virtual platform (Georgetown University, 2010).

There are cultural contrasts among societies, and these contrasts have an impact on how individuals connect on social media (Rosen et al., 2010).

Control space, selfhood/collective, virility/womanhood, instability evasion, and current/future trend are cultural aspects. Control space means the degree to which less effective individuals of organizational entities admit and anticipate that control is allocated unevenly. The level of a person’s combining with a group is indicating to selfhood/collective. Virility/womanhood clarifies the tasks divided among sexes; for illustration, self-assured and competitive in contrast with upbringing and sustaining. Instability evasion transacts with a society’s resilience to instability and confusion, and current/future trends outline the culture center and values (Hofstede, 2001).

Users’ connection and action patterns differ between individual and collective cultures when it comes to social media as persons from individual cultures prefer recognizing new friends and getting noticed by lots of people more than preserving their current relationships on social media. In contrast, individuals from collective societies use social networking sites to keep in touch with intimate friends or family instead of forming new ones (Rosen et al., 2010).

Since social media is empowered by data and communication innovation and intensely relies on constant user contribution, its dissemination worldwide may appear as distinctive impacts on cultures and eventually cause the advancement of integration and perception among worldwide nations (Veltri and Elgarah, 2009).

Through the presentation of some previous studies related to the topic of the research, it can be said that the current study differs from them in the following:

• 1. Previous studies did not focus on studying the topic in rural areas, which are governed by their own cultures.

• 2. Lack of focus on the Middle East area, specifically a country like Egypt.

• 3. The previous studies did not deal with all the components of cultural identity. Rather, each study dealt with one or some of those components.

Therefore, this study, with its focus on the Egyptian countryside and its treatment of the impact of social media on cultural identity with all its components, is considered a good addition to this field, and an important entry point for future studies on this topic.

Secondly: Theoretical orientations

The social theories explaining the topic of the research are as follows.

• 1. Symbolic Interactivity Theory

  Symbolic interactivity refers to the process of symbolic social interaction in which the individual has a relationship and contact with the minds of others, their latent needs and desires, and their means to achieve their goals (Lotfy and El-Zayat, 1999). By applying this theory to the current research, it can be said that the virtual society is one in which individual and collective actions with common meanings are produced and reproduced, and coded symbols are circulated among its pioneers as social actors, and they have connotations that they understand. They form the social reality in which they live through symbolic interaction processes among them, which is also reshaping and defining their identity.

• 2. Anthony Giddens’ Structural Formation Theory

  This theory emphasizes that individuals are the ones who establish their lives through their social practices, and the form and direction of social change are determined through social practices, which results in maintaining, reproducing, or changing established practices (Giddens, 2000). The cultural heritage of the pioneers of virtual communities is shaped according to their practices in these communities, which results in the preservation of identity or the occurrence of changes in it and its reproduction in a new way.

• 3. Marshall McLuhan’s Technological Determinism Theory

  This theory indicates that technology has the power to change the nature of social relations and social reality. Proponents of this theory believe that technology controls the progress of humanity, as individuals in various parts of the earth have failed to reach a solution that keeps them in constant contact, until technology intervened to provide them with radical solutions which eliminate all the problems that bother them, and works to bridge the distances between the east and the west of the earth, as others see that technology is only a tool to impose hegemony and control over weak peoples and to control the convictions of individuals as it invades the personal life of the individual, and works to break up his real relationships (El-Sayed, 2013), and by applying this theory to the current research, it can be said that browsing social networking sites has a set of positives that benefit the individual, whether at the personal level, the family level, or the societal level, but it also has a set of negatives. Therefore, the pros and cons of social networking sites must be weighed.

• 4. Social Determinism theory.

This theory is based on the fact that social relationships are the basis for creating social networking sites, and it is the strongest motive for creating these sites (Radi, 2003). It also indicates that social relationships have great strength and influence that pushes people to try to create an environment that brings them together, trying to create a unified framework for them, which led them to build and configure those social networks, whether it is the Internet, mobile phones or audio-visual media, in an attempt to bring them closer and bridge distances between each other, and this theory is the opposite of the theory of “technological determinism”, which indicates that technology is the owner of the credit for creating an atmosphere that combines all those social relationships in one framework through several applications so that each individual chooses what suits his needs and personal convictions (Sadiq, 2011).

Through the previous narrative of the theories that explain the processes of communication between individuals, it became clear that the theory of symbolic interaction, the theory of structural formation by Anthony Giddens, and the theory of technological determinism by Marshall McLuhan are the most closely related to the interpretation of the identity of individuals and; therefore, the current study relied on them to explain its results.

Research hypotheses

There is no doubt that the process of change in general and the change in cultural elements is greatly affected by people’s social, economic, and communicative characteristics. A young man is not like an old man, a married person is not like a single, a university graduate is not like a doctorate, an employee is not like the one who does not work, and a high-income earner is not like someone who is poorly paid, and also someone who uses social media for a year is not like someone who uses it for ten years, and someone who sits daily on social media for hours is not like someone who uses it every week. All these variables and characteristics are expected to affect in the end the degree of change in the personalities of the respondents and their cultural identities. Some of the previous studies, which were mentioned here in the current research, have referred to some of these aspects. It may be difficult to trace the change to these characteristics, but without a doubt, the correlational relationships between them provide results and indications that greatly clarify the importance of these characteristics in the interpretation of the change in the degree of personalities of the respondents and their cultural identities. Therefore, the following hypotheses are formulated:

• 1. There is a relationship between some of the following social, economic, and communication characteristics of respondents: age, gender, educational status, marital status, number of family members, occupation, monthly income of the family, number of years of using social media, number of hours of daily use of social networking sites, number of websites used in social networks, and finally the means of accessing social networking sites, and the degree of change in their cultural identity.

• 2. There is a relative contribution of the studied independent variables in explaining the total variance in the degree of change in the cultural identity of the respondents.

To test the two previous research hypotheses, they were put in their null hypothesis.

Research methods

This study relied on the descriptive approach through the social survey method. The descriptive approach was an adequate tool for achieving the current study’s aims and questions, which were to precisely and efficiently depict a sociocultural problem and responding to the different questions about it.

In addition, it is valuable as little is known about the effect of social media on cultural identity in Egypt. Expressive measurements described and grouped the features of a data package that were collected from a random sample of respondents via a questionnaire (Bhandari, 2021).

Sample size, sampling techniques, and data collection

This study was conducted in the village of Bamha in Al-Ayat district, Giza Governorate, which has a population of 16,128 according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (2017). The research sample was randomly selected from the users of social media, specifically “Facebook”, as it is the most used means in the study area. The population of the study comprised all members of the “Bamha Village News” group on the Facebook website, which includes 5708 members. The sample was also determined through the Kergcie and Morgan table, and it amounted to 360 respondents, and the data was collected after dividing the village into four residential sectors, and from each sector, 90 respondents were selected in a systematic random manner.

Data collection procedure

Major data of the study were gathered from rural people during December 2021. Information was gathered by interview and through a questionnaire. The Questionnaire has been tested for validity and reliability. The respondents were interviewed face-to-face. The research tools were pre-tested before the factual survey to make sure they were appropriate and to adapt them to rural people’s circumstances.

The questionnaire form contained five sections as follows:

The first section: It included seven questions to know the social and economic characteristics of the respondents, namely: age, gender, educational status, marital status, how many members in the family, occupation, and the family’s monthly income.

The second section: It included 10 questions to know the communication characteristics of the respondents, namely: the years number of social networking websites utilizing, the number of hours of daily use of social networking sites, the number of sites used in social networks, the means of accessing social networking sites, the validity of the data recorded on the communication sites Social, trusting what social media offers, how to learn to use and surf the Internet, favorite site, feeling while away from social media, and login name for social media.

The Third Section: It included an open question to find out the reasons for rural people’s use of social media.

The fourth section: It included a question to measure the effect of social media utilization on the cultural identity components of rural people, which are six components on a scale consisting of three levels: increased, did not change, decreased, and grades were given 3, 2 and 1, respectively, in the case of positive statements and vice versa in the case of negative statements, and total scores were collected to express the change in the components of the respondents’ cultural identity as a consequence of their utilization of social media; That is, the effect in this research means the amount of change in the cultural identity of rural people after social media utilization. As for the first component, this is concerned with language and the method of dialog with others, the second component is concerned with community participation; the third component is concerned with affiliation, the fourth component is concerned with respect for time, and the fifth component is concerned with freedom, while the sixth component is concerned with family cohesion, and each component includes 5 items.

The Fifth Section: It was related to identifying the positives and drawbacks of utilizing social media.

Data analysis

The statistical analysis was carried out through SPSS version 20. Based on the characteristics of the respondents, descriptive statistics were generated. The weighted average was also used to help in arranging the respondents according to their reasons for using social media and also arranging them according to their opinions about the positive and negative effects of using social media. Pearson’s simple correlation coefficient and (chi-square) were used to measure the relationship between some of the social, economic, and communication characteristics of respondents and the degree of change in their cultural identity. Finally, the ascending multiple regression correlation analysis model (Stepwise) was used to measure the relative contribution of the studied independent variables in explaining the total variance in the degree of the cultural identity of the respondents.

Validity and reliability

The validity of the questionnaire was measured by the method of content validity, whereby the questionnaire was presented to a group of professors specialized in the field of research to express their opinion on the questionnaire, who gave a set of observations, and the researcher committed and responded to their opinions and made the necessary adjustments in the light of their proposals. The stability of some measures was also measured using (Cronbach’s alpha), and its values for all measures were >0.8, which indicates the high stability of the questionnaire tool.

After completing the preparation of the questionnaire, a (Pretest) was conducted for it. Data have been collected during December 2021, after that data has been discharged, tabulated, and analyzed using tables, percentages, frequencies, weighted average, Pearson’s simple correlation coefficient, (chi-square), and the ascending multiple regression correlation analysis model (Stepwise).

Results and discussion

Firstly: Description of the research sample

The results (Table 1) which show the social and economic characteristics of the respondents showed that the age mode of the respondents falls in the age group 18–33 years, and their percentage reached (55%). With regard to the sex of the respondents, it was found that the majority of them (85%) are males. For the educational status of the respondents, the results showed that two-fifths of the respondents (40%) hold a secondary certificate, as well as those with higher qualifications, the same percentage, and that 10% of them have a preparatory certificate, and that 5% of them have an elementary certificate, as well as those who read and write the same. As for the marital status of the respondents, it was found from the results that three-quarters of them (75%) are married.

Table 1 Distribution of respondents according to their social, economic, and communication characteristics.

With regard to the number of family members, the results showed that half of the respondents (50%) had an average family size, as the number of their family members ranged from 5 to 6 individuals, which is in line with the respondents’ educational level. With regard to the respondents’ profession, the results showed that two-fifths of the respondents 40% are employees, and that one-fifth of them (20%) work as craftsmen, that 15% of them work as self-employed, and 10% of them are students. With regard to the distribution of respondents according to their monthly income, the results showed that more than half of the respondents (55%) fall in the middle-income category, where their income ranges between 2000 and 3000 Egyptian pounds, and this is in line with the nature of their professions.

Also, the results (Table 1) which show the communication characteristics of the respondents showed that the mode of the number of years of use variable falls in the two time categories 1–3 years and 4–6 years, with a percentage of 35%, while it became clear that 30% of the respondents have used social media for a period ranging from 7 to 10 years. With regard to the number of hours of use, it was found that nearly half of the respondents (45%) use social media between 2 and 3 h per day, while more than a third of them (35%) use social media between 4 and 5 h a day, and a fifth of respondents (20%) use social media between 6 and 8 h a day.

As for the number of websites used by the respondents, the results showed that half of the respondents (50%) use one or two websites at most, that nearly half (45%) use 3–4 websites, and that only 5% of them use 5–6 Sites, and as for the means of accessing social media, it was found that nearly two-thirds of the respondents (60%) use both the mobile and the computer to enter, while two-fifths of the respondents (40%) of them access via mobile only. Regarding the validity of the respondents’ data on social media, it was found that the majority of the respondents (80%) use data, some of which are true and others are incorrect, and that for 15% of them all their data are correct, and that for only 5% of respondents’ their data is incorrect, and this is logical in light of the multiplicity of problems that may occur as a result of disclosing all data.

With regard to trusting the websites used by the respondents, the results showed that the majority of respondents (80%) trust to some extent, while 15% of them fully trust, and 5% of them do not trust those websites. As for the learning method variable, nearly two-thirds of the respondents (60%) learned to utilize the communication methods through friends, while one-fifth of the respondents (20%) learned themselves, and that (15%) of them learned through their brothers, while 5% of them only learned through training courses. As for the preferred site, it was found that the majority of respondents (90%) prefer Facebook, while 5% of them prefer WhatsApp, and the same percentage prefer YouTube.

As for the respondents’ feelings during their absence from social media, it was found that nearly two-thirds of the respondents (60%) feel empty during their absence from the means of communication, while one-fifth of the respondents (20%) feel nothing when they are absent from these means, and the same percentage reported feeling anxiety and turmoil. As for the name of access to social networking sites, the majority of respondents (85%) enter with real names, while 15% of them enter under pseudonyms.

Secondly: Reasons for using social media

The results (Table 2) showed the following: Communicating with others, in general, came in the first rank of the reasons for respondents’ utilization of social media by 88%, then within the second rank searching for old friends and getting to know new friends by 75%, then in the third rank spending leisure time by 73.8%, then in the fourth rank entertainment by 72%, then in the fifth rank accessing to political and religious news by 70.5%, and then in the sixth rank following up on sports news by 60%, then in the seventh rank searching for a job by 42.7%, then in the eighth rank being one of the work requirements by 36.1%, then in the ninth rank buying and selling by 22.5%, then in the tenth rank the reason of addiction by 16.4%, and finally in the last rank for social appearance among people (10.3%).

Table 2 Reasons for respondents’ use of social media.

Thirdly: The effect of social media utilizing on the respondents’ cultural identity

• A. The component of language and method of dialog with others

The results (Table 3) showed the following:

• 1. Paying attention to speaking and writing in a spoken language:

  Nearly two-thirds of the respondents (60%) reported that taking into account speaking and writing in a spoken language has decreased in light of their use of social media.

• 2. Paying attention to correct linguistic errors:

  Nearly two-thirds of the respondents (60%) reported that interest in correcting linguistic errors had decreased in light of their use of social media.

• 3. Using colloquial language in conversation with others:

  All respondents (100%) reported that their use of the colloquial dialect increased in light of their use of social media.

• 4. Use of new and common terms among young people:

  The vast majority of respondents (95%) reported that their use of new and circulating words among young people has increased in light of their use of social media.

• 5. Using Franco Arabic in writing:

Table 3 Respondents’ responses according to the change in the cultural identity component of language and the method of dialog with others.

The majority of respondents (90%) stated that their use of Franco Arabic in writing had increased in light of social media utilization.

• A. Component of community participation:

The results (Table 4) showed the following:

• 1. Attending social events:

  Nearly two-thirds of the respondents (60%) reported that their attendance at social events had decreased in light of their use of social media.

• 2. Exchanging visits with relatives and friends:

  Nearly two-thirds of the respondents (60%) stated that their exchange of visits with their relatives and friends had decreased in light of their use of social media.

• 3. Participation in development projects and initiatives:

  Three-quarters of the respondents (75%) reported that their participation in development projects and initiatives had increased in light of their use of social media.

• 4. Contributing to providing social assistance to the needy:

  Nearly two-thirds of the respondents (60%) stated that their contribution to providing social assistance to the needy had not changed in light of their use of social media.

• 5. Participation in associations and parties:

Table 4 Respondents’ responses according to the change in the cultural identity component of community participation.

Three-quarters of the respondents (75%) stated that their participation in associations and parties had increased in light of social media utilization.

• A. Affiliation component:

The results (Table 5) showed the following:

• 1. Follow-up to the national team matches:

  Three-quarters of the respondents (75%) stated that their follow-up to the national team matches had increased in light of their use of social media.

• 2. Buying Egyptian products even if their quality is lower:

  Three-quarters of the respondents (75%) stated that their purchase of Egyptian products had not changed in light of their use of social media.

• 3. Boycotting the products of any country that harms Egypt:

  Three-quarters of the respondents (75%) stated that their boycott of the products of countries offensive to Egypt had not changed in light of their use of social media.

• 4. Feeling of sacrificing one’s life in order to preserve the homeland:

  Three-quarters of the respondents (75%) reported that their feeling of sacrificing for the sake of the homeland had not changed in light of their use of social media.

• 5. Thinking about traveling abroad and emigrating:

Table 5 Respondents’ responses according to the change in the cultural identity component of Affiliation.

Three-quarters of the respondents (75%) stated that their thinking about traveling abroad had not changed in light of their use of social media.

• A. Component of time respect:

The results (Table 6) showed the following:

• 1. Organizing the time:

  Three-quarters of the respondents (75%) stated that their time management had decreased in light of their use of social media.

• 2. Paying attention to waking up early:

  Three-quarters of the respondents (75%) reported that their keenness to wake up early had decreased in light of their use of social media.

• 3. Paying attention to use time in everything that is useful:

  Nearly three-quarters of the respondents (70%) stated that their eagerness to use time in all that is useful had decreased in light of their use of social media.

• 4. Commitment to appointments with others:

  Three-quarters of the respondents (75%) stated that their commitment to appointments with others had decreased in light of their use of social media.

• 5. Postponing today’s work until tomorrow:

Table 6 Respondents’ responses according to the change in the cultural identity component of time respect.

Three-quarters of the respondents (75%) reported that their postponement of today’s work until tomorrow had increased in light of social media utilizing.

• A. Freedom component:

Results (Table 7) showed the following:

• 1. Expressing opinion freely:

  All respondents (100%) reported that their free expression of their opinion had increased in light of their use of social media.

• 2. Discussing issues and events with colleagues and friends:

  All respondents (100%) reported that their discussion of issues and events with colleagues and friends had increased in light of their use of social media.

• 3. Claiming rights through legitimate means:

  All respondents (100%) reported that their demand for their rights through legitimate means had increased in light of their use of social media.

• 4. Friendship with people of other religions:

  Half of the respondents (50%) stated that their friendship with people of other religions had increased in light of their use of social media.

• 5. Criticizing development programs and policies:

Table 7 Respondents’ responses according to the change in the cultural identity component of freedom.

All respondents (100%) reported that their criticism of development programs and policies had increased in light of social media utilization.

• A. Component of family cohesion:

The results (Table 8) showed the following:

• 1. Paying attention to eat with the family:

  Nearly three-quarters of the respondents (70%) stated that their eagerness to eat with the family had decreased in light of their use of social media.

• 2. Paying attention to allocate time to discuss family matters:

  Nearly three-quarters of the respondents (70%) stated that their eagerness to allocate time to discuss family matters had decreased in light of their use of social media.

• 3. Watching football matches with the family:

  Nearly half of the respondents (45%) stated that their eagerness to watch football matches with the family had decreased in light of their use of social media.

• 4. Paying attention to know the affairs of all family members:

  More than a third of the respondents (35%) stated that their eagerness to know the affairs of all family members had decreased in light of their use of social media.

• 5. Standing by any family member in times of crisis:

Table 8 Respondents’ responses according to the change in the cultural identity component of family cohesion.

All respondents (100%) stated that their standing next to any family member in times of crisis had not changed in light of their use of social media.

In order to determine the level of change in the components of cultural identity in general, the results (Table 9) showed that two-fifths of the respondents (40%) had a high level of change in the components of cultural identity in light of their use of social media.

Table 9 Distribution of respondents according to the level of change in the components of cultural identity as a whole.

Fourthly: The relationship between the independent variables of the respondents and the degree of their cultural identity

The first statistical hypothesis indicates that there is no connection between some of the social, economic, and communication characteristics of rural people: age, gender, educational status, marital status, number of family members, occupation, family monthly income, number of years of social media utilizing, of hours number utilizing social media sites daily, the number of sites used in social networks, and finally the means of accessing social networking sites and the degree of their cultural identity.

To test the validity of this hypothesis, the simple correlation coefficient was used for variables of continuous type, and chi-square for variables of nominal type, and the results (Table 10) showed the following:

• There is a positive relationship at a significant level of 0.01 between the age of the respondents and the degree of their cultural identity, and the calculated value of the simple correlation coefficient is (0.396), which is greater than its tabular counterpart.

• There is a positive relationship at a significant level of 0.01 between the number of family members and the degree of their cultural identity, and the calculated simple correlation coefficient value is (0.147), which is greater than its tabular counterpart.

• There is a positive relationship at a significant level of 0.01 between the monthly income of the respondents and the degree of their cultural identity, and the calculated value of the simple correlation coefficient is (0.264), which is greater than its tabular counterpart.

• There is a significant relationship at a significant level of 0.01 between the gender of the respondents and the degree of their cultural identity, and the value of the chi-square is (122.648), which is greater than its tabular counterpart.

• There is a significant relationship at a significant level of 0.01 between the educational status of the respondents and the degree of their cultural identity, and the value of the chi-square is (656.725), which is greater than its tabular counterpart.

• There is a significant relationship at a significant level of 0.01 between the marital status of the respondents and the degree of their cultural identity, and the value of the chi-square is (620.437), which is greater than its tabular counterpart.

• There is a significant relationship at a significant level of 0.01 between the respondents’ profession and the degree of their cultural identity, and the value of the chi-square is (1314.019), which is greater than its tabular counterpart.

• There is a significant relationship at a significant level of 0.01 between the means of accessing social networking sites and the degree of their cultural identity, and the value of the chi-square is (126.304), which is greater than its tabular counterpart.

Table 10 Values of the simple correlation coefficient and Chi-Square test between each of the studied independent variables of the respondents and the degree of their cultural identity.

Based on these results, the previous statistical hypothesis could not be rejected entirely, but could only be rejected with respect to some variables, i.e. age, number of family members, income, gender, educational status, marital status, profession, means of access to social networking sites, and the possibility of accepting the alternative theoretical hypothesis for these variables.

The positive relationship between age and the degree of change in cultural identity can be explained by the fact that a person’s age, in light of his use of social media and increased exposure to it, makes him more affected than others by it and its repercussions in relation to cultural identity, especially the components of language, respect for time, family cohesion and social participation.

Regarding affirmative relationship among both of family members’ number and the cultural identity degree, it might be clarified that the larger the family size, the more problems and concerns it has, and therefore, in light of the use of social media and the increase in exposure to it, this leads to affecting the components of cultural identity, especially the components of language, respect for time, family cohesion, and social participation.

As for the positive relationship between monthly income and the cultural identity degree, it maybe is illustrated that the higher the income, the more it is reflected in the ability of people to financially immerse themselves in technology and its applications, especially social media, and thus lead to affecting the components of cultural identity, especially the language components, time respect, family cohesion, and social participation.

As for the significant relationship between gender and the degree of change in cultural identity, it can be explained that females mostly, especially in the research sample, have more free time than males, which gives them the opportunity to increase their social media utilizing, and therefore their cultural identity degree with its various components is more subject to change than males.

As for the significant relationship between educational status and the degree of change in the cultural identity, it can be explained that those with higher educational qualifications are more open to technology and social media, and therefore the degree of their cultural identity with its various components is more vulnerable to change than less educated people.

As for the significant relationship between marital status and the degree of change in cultural identity, it can be explained by the fact that married people are often exposed to more living pressures, and therefore social media represents for them as a primary haven to escape from these pressures, and therefore the degree of their cultural identity with its various components is more vulnerable to change than others.

As for the significant relationship between the profession and the degree of change in cultural identity, it can be explained that there are professions that require more use of the Internet and technology, and therefore the degree of cultural identity with its different components for people with these professions is more vulnerable to change than others.

As for the significant relationship between the means of accessing social networking sites and the degree of change in cultural identity, it can be explained that for people who use both mobile phones in addition to computers, the degree of their cultural identity with its various components is more vulnerable to change than people who use mobile phones only or Computers only.

Fifth: The relative contribution of the studied independent variables in explaining the total variance in the degree of cultural identity of the respondents

The second statistical hypothesis states that “there is no relative contribution of the studied independent variables in explaining the total variance in the degree of the cultural identity of the respondents.” And to test the validity of this hypothesis, the multiple regression correlation analysis model was used, and through (Table 11) the results showed that there are four variables that collectively contribute to the explanation of this variance by 43.7%, which are the variables of profession, age, gender, and monthly income, this contribution was significant, as the calculated “F” values for the significant contribution amounted to 127.77, 101.25, 79.65, and 7.74, all of which were significant at the 0.01 probability level, which means the importance of these four studied variables in the degree of the cultural identity of the respondents.

Table 11 The relative contribution of the studied independent variables in explaining the total variance in the degree of change in the cultural identity of the respondents.

Sixth: The positives and drawbacks of utilizing social media, according to respondents’ opinion

As for the positive effects of social media, the results (Table 12) showed the following: Facilitating rapprochement and knowing the news came in the first rank with a percentage of 89.1%, and then came in the second rank to help in charitable work such as searching for missing children with a rate of 86.9%, Then in the third rank it helps to know the behavior of the people living in my village with a percentage of 84.7%, then in the fourth rank it helps in mobilizing public opinion on public issues with a percentage of 75.2%, and then in the fifth rank it helps in searching for cultural and religious matters with a percentage of 73%, and then in the sixth rank to benefit from it in searching for job opportunities by 69.1%, then in the seventh rank paying bills electronically easily with a rate of 65.5%, then in the eighth rank it is a good way to have fun and spend time by 64.2%, then in the ninth and last rank, developing skills and displaying talents to others to prove oneself, with a percentage of 56.4%.

Table 12 The positive and negative effects of social media from the respondents’ point of view.

As for the negative effects of social media, the results (Table 12) showed the following: wasting time and inability to organize came in the first rank with a percentage of (83.6%), then in the second rank it increases the spread of negative values and corruption of morals by (74.7%), then in the third rank the development of laziness and lethargy among individuals by (71.1%), then in the fourth rank weakens direct communication skills by (65.3%), then in the fifth rank is a falsification of information by (63.3%), and then in the sixth rank is an addiction to its use by (58). %), then in the seventh and last rank is neglect in religious rites, such as establishing prayer, at a rate of (55%).

Discussion

The responses to the meeting queries give a wealth of data with respect to the relationship between the effects of social media utilization on individuals’ cultural identity. The responses can be used to infer three crucial ideas for this study, including communication, acculturation, and society.

The study findings confirm the significance of how searching for communication through networking websites affects cultural identity. According to the participant information, social media is used by individuals to develop, construct, and keep up connections. The contacts and discussions create a sense of connection, which is crucial for interacting with persons both locally and globally.

These ties are imperative for eliminating self-improvement obstacles and building up a feeling of community.

Acculturation is a crucial component of cultural identity, and social media has an impact on this procedure. To connect with contacts, social media provides a forum for dialog and interaction locally and internationally.

Moreover, acculturation operation includes being conscious of stereotypes. Whether respondents are convinced to avoid stereotypes or even forced through social media, they admit patterns and prejudices and maybe form their awareness about the different sources.

Communication also affects an individual’s feeling of belonging to the community while dealing with cultural elements and components. After the spread of social media, the interviewees contacted people from different cultural backgrounds locally and internationally. Forming these relationships and interactions created a space for the occurrence of cultural processes such as the process of acculturation, cultural assimilation, and cultural integration in new different cultures, where social media contributed to this development. Simultaneously, social media offers a platform for users to connect with friends and remain updated, conscious, and knowledgeable about present occasions. Users discussed how social media enhances their sense of belonging to their community.

Figure 1 illustrates a paradigm that can be utilized to clarify the possible connections between these terms, showing how social media links individuals, and as a result of utilizing social media, their relationships are strengthened, which helps people to overcome the acculturation process effects and establish a sense of community.

Fig. 1: A paradigm of social media effect on cultural identity.

This figure represents the full structural model to demonstrate the potential relationships among the concepts of communication/relationship, acculturation, and community, in which social media connects people, and through social media utilizing, connections are increased, which aids individuals to avoid acculturation process effects and establish a sense of community.

It is worthwhile to talk about two extra study results. To begin with, the design that emerged from the respondents was the timing of using social media. With the advent of social media, people utilize social media a lot to remain in touch with others inside their local community. However, as the people’s length of time on social media increased, their use was oriented more to interacting with individuals from other communities, whether local or international. This change in social media usage demonstrates how cultural identity was influenced by that. Secondly, the findings demonstrate that the concept “friend” might be seen as vague in online contexts. On social networking platforms, a lot of users have many friends, yet in reality, they may only have known these users once. Hence, the concept “friend” takes on a different meaning when everyone is referred to as a friend on social media. As a result, some persons feel the need to accompany persons they already know, whether they are near companions or not, in order to broaden their connections.

What’s more, in the current study it was found that there is a positive relationship between each of the following variables; age, monthly income, the number of family members, and the cultural identity degree, which might be clarified through the fact that a person’s age, in light of his use of social media and increased exposure to it, makes him more affected than others by it and its repercussions in relation to cultural identity. Also the larger the size of the family, the more problems and concerns it has, and therefore, in light of social media utilization as well as the increased exposure to it, this leads to affecting the components of cultural identity. In addition, the higher the income, the more it is reflected in the ability of people to financially immerse themselves in technology and its applications, especially social media, and thus lead to affecting the components of cultural identity.

The findings from this study also showed that gender, educational status, marital status, profession, and means of accessing social networking sites affect the cultural identity degree, which may be illustrated through females mostly, having more free time than males, which gives them the opportunity to increase their social media utilizing, and therefore their cultural identity degree with its various components is more subject to change than males. Also, those with higher educational qualifications are more open to technology and social media, and therefore the degree of their cultural identity with its various components is more vulnerable to change than less educated people. In addition, married people are often exposed to more living pressures, and therefore social media represents them a primary haven to escape from these pressures, and therefore the degree of their cultural identity with its various components is more vulnerable to change than others. There are also professions that require more use of the Internet and technology, and therefore the degree of cultural identity with its different components for people with these professions is more vulnerable to change than others. Also, for people who use both mobile phones in addition to computers, the degree of their cultural identity with its various components is more vulnerable to change than people who use mobile phones only or Computers only. Overall, the results showed that there are four variables that collectively contribute to the explanation of this variance by 43.7%, which are the variables of profession, age, gender, and monthly income, which mean the importance of these four studied variables in the degree of the cultural identity of the respondents.

In general, and through the results, it can be said that social means of communications, a “phenomenon” has spread over the world over the past few decades and is now omnipresent, having effects that range from the local to the global. Social means of communication are located socially because the internet environment makes it possible to forge new relationships through time and location; online connecting is moreover affected by offline. Social standards, designs, and structures: the social media utilizing in an Egyptian setting that existed previously may differ from other countries and settings. And a few speculations have been presented to assist in comprehending the characteristics, capacities, and control of social media. In other words, it is clear from spanning the majority of studies on social media that it gives a raised perception of social existence, as the distinction between the online and offline world gets to be progressively unclear.

Eventually, the study had some shortcomings. Firstly, it has been conducted on just 360 respondents. It would be helpful to interview or survey more people in order to have a better perception of the connection between social media utilizing and cultural identity. Furthermore, all respondents were rural people. For additional research, people from a greater variety of different communities may be met to get a more diversified viewpoint on social media and cultural identity. Lastly, the age run of the members might be extended to incorporate more individuals. There is great potential for studying and interviewing people across the world to further understand the influences social media has on cultural identity. The scope of subjects presented in this study which can be described as deficient will definitely be covered extensively in future research on social media. Users will discover more applications that affect propensities, exercises, connections, and societies as social media advances proceed to spread. In the coming eras, new conditions will exist and definitely, and the next generation will be affected positively or vice versa. Undoubtedly, there is a lot more to be found.

Recommendations

• 1. Developing students’ thinking and self-learning skills in schools and universities to develop their research skills, broaden their horizons in general culture, and not leave them prey to the negatives of electronic cultural openness.

• 2. Developing the pride of learners in various educational levels in the Arabic language, by accustoming teachers to their students to speak Standard Arabic, in addition to creating pages on social networking sites to support the Arabic language.

• 3. Activating the role of the media, especially film, drama, and song makers, in providing meaningful content that preserves societal values and raises public taste in order to limit the spread of unacceptable terms commonly used on social media as a matter of humor and imitation.

• 4. Employing social media to support the community participation of young people by organizing awareness, voluntary and charitable activities, and thus benefiting from the integration of young people in the virtual world to provide real activities in the real world.

• 5. The need to increase cooperation and coordination between all parties, whether the media, schools, religious institutions, NGOs, youth centers, and other institutions, to maximize the use of social media and reduce its negative effects.