Understanding Digital Alienation in the Digital Natives: A Descriptive Analysis Of Social Networking Sites Usage By Women In Layyah

258 Publisher: EDUCATION GENIUS SOLUTIONS Review Type: Double Blind Peer Review Vol. 3 No.4 2025 Research Consortium Archive P(ISSN) : 3007-0031 E(ISSN) : 3007-004X https://rc-archive.com/index.php/Journal/about Understanding Digital Alienation in the Digital Natives: A Descriptive Analysis Of Social Networking Sites Usage By Women In Layyah Muhammad Asif MPhil, Department of Media and Development Communication, Punjab University, Lahore Email: [email protected] Muhammad Aleem MPhil Department of Media and Development Communication, Punjab University, Lahore Email: [email protected] Salman Farsi MPhil Department of Media and Development Communication, Punjab University, Lahore Email: [email protected] 734 This qualitative study examines digital alienation among women in Layyah, Pakistan, focusing on the ways social networking sites (SNS) are used by three subgroups: educated housewives, college students, and professional workers. Utilizing in-depth interviews (n = 15), thematic analysis was used to study the ways in which technological literacy, privacy issues, socio-cultural norms, and gratifications perceived influence experiences of digital inclusion and alienation. The findings indicate that despite heavy usage of SNS for entertainment and social bonding, structural and cultural barriers restricted digital competencies, privacy fears, and norm policing create senses of exclusion and limited online self-presentation. The research develops uses and gratifications theory by illustrating how gratifications are mediated by social environments and digital capital, and suggests policy and practice guidelines to improve digital literacy and online safety among women in semi-rural Pakistan.. Keywords: Digital Alienation; Uses And Gratifications Theory; Digital Literacy; Social Networking Sites; Privacy; Digital Divide. Introduction The twentieth-first century has been characterized by a deep communication pattern shift, led by the fast growth of the internet and digital media technologies. The internet currently connects billions of people all over the world, redefining human relationships, political engagement, and social relationships. Digital communication technologies have produced "cross-cultural encounters," allowing people to engage in virtual communities that cross geographical and cultural divides, as argued by Ess (2013). In Pakistan, Social Media, as in the world, has developed as an intrinsic part of life which combines space for recreation, information, trade, and identification in one interactive world. Rather, however, it poses new sets of paradoxes. It is true that usercontrolled social spaces provide access to empowerment through participation and self-determination, but they also produce new kinds of dependency and new forms of inequity. Researchers such as Bai et al. (2021) hold that the user, rather than acquiring greater control over technology, has become increasingly dominated by algorithmic patterns for controlling visibilty, attention and activity called by them digital alienation. This is more evident amongst marginalised communities, such as women from semi rural areas having interlinked access difficulties from literacy, social infrastructure and cultural difficulties. Digital Native The idea that individuals are being "digital natives" is based on the theory that advances in technology are changing how individuals' brains function. Passively ingested information can lead to misconceptions and damage neural networks associated with emotional and cognitive development. "Digital natives" would appear to be socially inept as their online behavior is so divergent from actual behavior offline (Leshkevich & Motozhanets 2019). This generation prefers social media very strongly and has shown a strong inclination towards community-building tools like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, through which users can post videos. The user has lots of scope to be creative with these applications. It is also stated that the use of these applications has harmed their way of thinking and led them to become distant towards other people and organizations (Moharam and Mukherji, 2023). ABSTRACT 735 With the fact that people have prefabricated sources of information at their disposal in this digital era, most of the time individuals simply imitate introspection. Material online does not, nonetheless, translate to wisdom. Additionally, being tech-savvy has the contrary outcome when a person's intellectual capital is not matched with their stuff on the web. A digital media consumer turns into a pseudo-intellectual because of the "adapted wisdom" at the end, which depends on quick searches over the internet from any device without thinking about the content being retrieved. Cognitive ability is, however, considered to be the fundamental trait of Homo sapiens. Those that can identify patterns, basic traits, and set long-term goals accomplish this through creative thinking. Reciprocal comprehension arises from creativity in interpersonal interaction (Hassan, 2020). Our encounters with technological advances are in essence contradictory. As much as they bring humanity an array of prospects to augment the quality of our lives, they never manage to live up to this promise, leaving us to contend with very difficult situations on an individual, national, organizational, and global level. Limited end user knowledge lead to a negative disruption to one's business and personal life; initiate serious financial issues. (Healy, 2021). Technological innovation allows humans to individualize, represent oneself, and consequently, the virtual facility attracts the responsible with the idea that we can create and project distinctness through digital media. Individualization has been infused into technological advances. The course of personal individuation is intertwined with pastoral modes of power; to say one does not want to express one's difference through electronic means would be as odd in the age of electronics as it would have been in the era of industry (Katarina, 2016).. The Gendered Digital Divide in Pakistan In Pakistan, digital inclusion is still unevenly distributed. Urban and male groups have greater connectivity and exposure to information and communication technologies (ICTs), while women particularly from rural and semi-urban regions still experience socio-cultural and economic obstacles. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) identifies an ongoing "gender digital divide" where women's exposure to mobile phones and the internet is considerably lower than that of men. Due to things like economic restrictions, ingrained patriarchal views, and privacy concerns, women are not allowed in internet venues. As a result, their use of social networking sites (SNS) is either functional, inactive, or strictly controlled. The ladies of Layyah, a small area in South Punjab, are examined in this study as a significant illustration of how location, gender, and technology interact. It will look at how women from the so-called "digital native" generation—those who were born into the internet era—are adjusting to social media platforms in this environment of cultural struggle and constraints. The Paradox of Digital Modernity In addition to promoting self-promotion, entrepreneurship, and innovation, social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat also reinforce categories of society and moral monitoring. Users may experience psychological weariness, privacy concerns, or internal reflection as a result of online surveillance and inspection environments. Digital alienation results from commercial surveillance's objectification and manipulation of the online self, according to Dainow (2016). Women feel even more alienated in traditional societies because of the tension between using the internet and cultural expectations of restraint and modesty. According to Comor (2010), when surfing goes against local value systems, even 736 active users may become alienated. Therefore, digital alienation encompasses mental, physical, and cultural disengagement from online involvement and cannot be limited to a lack of access. Involvement in digital existence is now regarded as a condition for complete social and economic integration in modern society. New communication technologies have rendered digital connectivity desirable, if not, in many respects, indispensable. The initial techno-utopian accounts predicted that the internet would break down established hierarchies and melt national and cultural borders, creating a so-called "flattened world." Despite this, the reluctance of inequality, gendered limitations, and differential access to technology undermines these deterministic prognoses. In Pakistan, the media environment has been deeply disrupted from state-controlled broadcast to open digital spaces. These spaces, however, continue to be unevenly accessible. In patriarchal and resource-scarce contexts, like Layyah in South Punjab, women's use of social media continues to be circumscribed, mediated by digital divides, cultural expectations, and privacy fears. Having an understanding of digital alienation in this sociocultural setting is thus critical in order to determine how women encounter empowering and constraining digital spaces. This research explores the everyday lives of women in Layyah as "digital natives" navigating connectivity and constraint.. Research Objectives The research goals were streamlined to promote conceptual precision and create clear theoretical connections with the uses and gratifications theory (UGT). These goals resonate with the study's emphasis on ascertaining how women in Layyah found their place in a semi-rural, gendered digital space interact with social networking sites (SNS) and feel digital alienation. To measure the certain gratifications (social, cognitive, affective, and entertainment) that women in Layyah aim to acquire from social networking sites (SNS) and how these gratifications differ in terms of social roles (housewives, students, professionals). To examine how different levels of digital literacy, access, and socioeconomic status (digital capital) affect women's capability to acquire sought gratifications and how these dimensions contribute to experiences of digital alienation. To investigate the ways in which privacy issues, social surveillance, and gendered cultural norms influence women's online self-presentation and involvement, mediating the association between media consumption and perceived empowerment. To conceptualize the interplay among individual motivations (UGT) and structural barriers (digital divide, cultural policing, and gender norms) to explain why SNS use does not necessarily result in empowerment or belonging for women in semi-rural Pakistan. Research Questions In order to operationalize the objectives, the research responds to the following research questions (RQs): RQ1. What are women in Layyah's social, cognitive, affective, and entertainment gratifications that they seek through their use of social networking sites (SNS)? RQ2. How do digital literacy, technological access, and socioeconomic background variations influence women's capacity to achieve these gratifications and women's digital experience overall? RQ3. How are privacy issues, familial surveillance, and cultural expectations 737 affecting women's online engagement, self-presentation, and sense of empowerment? RQ4. How does the dialectics between individual drives (as UGT theorized them) and structural obstacles (digital divide, gender norms, and social control) shape experiences of digital disaffection? RQ5. In what ways can the intersection of UGT with the notion of digital alienation give a richer perspective regarding women's negotiated digital agency in semi-rural contexts in Pakistan? Literature Review The phenomenon of digital alienation has been investigated through various dimensions technological, psychological, and cultural. Past literature identifies a range of intersecting factors that affect users' interactions with digital platforms, especially women in developing contexts. Grounded on previous literature and conceptual synthesis, five broad thematic areas guide this investigation: technological literacy and awareness, privacy and risk perception, efficacy beliefs and cultural norms, digital divide and trust, and behavioral intention and alienation effects. Technological Awareness and Literacy Technological literacy is key to comprehending the ways in which users interact with social media sites. It is used to describe the capability of users to access, assess, and appropriately use digital tools. Digital inclusion studies in South Asia (Ahmad & Tariq, 2023; Hassan, 2020) repeatedly indicate that limited functional awareness hinders full participation, particularly among women. Semi-rural contexts are the place where users tend to have no training or exposure to productive and professional uses of SNS and thus depend upon informal learning or others' help. This limited digital potential aids in the passive consumption of media, with users scrolling, looking at, and sharing media but not often creating and profiting from it. People that use technology out of habit rather than because they truly understand what they're doing are said to have "digital dependency" in literature Therefore, digital integration turns out to be rather superficial. While people are entertained, they are not truly empowered. In a country like Pakistan, where gender plays a significant role in day-to-day life, this lack of digital literacy only highlights more significant problems like unequal access to education, cultural hurdles, and a lack of basic amenities. In the end, rather than expressing digital alienation, technological training fuels it (Agha, 2024). Privacy and Risk Perception Privacy is a major barrier for women who want to participate online. According to research, women's worries about harassment, misinformation, or misuse of their information affect how they behave online in cultures where masculinity is pervasive (Agha, 2024). Consequently, many women limit themselves or remain concealed, often by taking on fictitious identities or keeping a low profile. Scholars have called this "self-regulated invisibility" (Dainow, 2016). Essentially, women are always choosing how much to reveal and when to retreat. In Pakistan, things are far more challenging. All of this is heightened by ideas of humility and family honor. Because they care about other people's perceptions, women who are tech-savvy often keep to themselves. As a result, privacy issues are not just a technology issue; they are also intertwined with social standards. Ultimately, women's perceptions of the dangers of online life impact their sense of security, their sense of control, and whether or not they want to participate. 738 Efficacy Beliefs and Cultural Norms Self-efficacy, or the belief that one can manage digital tasks, is a key component of people's online confidence. According to more recent research, these ideas are not only personal, building on Bandura's (1997) work. They are absorbed from society and our families and come from the world around us. Women find it difficult to distinguish between what their culture, family, and community expect of them and what they believe they are capable of ( Healy, 2021). Strict societal norms frequently prevent women in South Asia from employing their skills, even if they are proficient in technology or content creation. Her prospects are limited by her parents, patriarchal acceptance, and fear of being judged. She may therefore be aware of how to take part but feel as though she is not truly permitted. You can't always see that she has the talent but lacks the approval, so it's a form of exclusion. Beliefs about your abilities so serve as the link, or barrier, between being tech-savvy and really participating Women tend to retreat or remain silent when they feel powerless, which only serves to perpetuate the cycle of invisibility. Digital Divide, Access, and Trust Having a device or being online is only one aspect of the digital divide. It also raises the question of whether or not people actually trust technologies that are digital. As Healy and Hassan have pointed out, providing access does not ensure that people would use it. When online resources don't work properly together or the framework is fragile, people start becoming concerned about things like their data being abused. This is particularly detrimental to rural areas in Pakistan. People out there confront even greater obstacles because of the limited funding and erratic network. Reliance on male homeowners for gadgets or internet accounts further restricts access for women. According to research on digital trust, ongoing engagement is reliant on both technical infrastructure and perceptions of reliability and security in online interactions. Users feel uncomfortable and alienated when there is a lack of trust, and they perceive digital platforms as weird or dangerous. Because disparities in material resources, institutional trust, and social capital all influence participation patterns, the digital gap in semi-rural areas is therefore multifaceted. Behavioral Intention and Alienation Effects Behavioral intention is the motivational orientation of users towards sustained use of digital media. Although UGT postulates that users look for media in terms of gratification and satisfaction, digital alienation studies complicate the postulation by revealing that excessive exposure results in emotional exhaustion, envy, and social withdrawal (Bai & Gao, 2021; Rui & Stefanone, 2016). In Pakistan, new evidence is coming to light that social comparison, misinformation, and online moral policing lead to negative affective consequences, particularly for women. If social media is used as a ground for judgment instead of empowerment, behavioral intentions are redirected towards participation to avoidance. This results in decreased online exposure, disengagement, and eventually alienation a psychological state characterized by disconnection, loss of control, and reduced sense of belonging. The paradox of digital modernity is highlighted by these alienation effects: the same technology designed to unite people may simultaneously encourage social disintegration, loneliness, and anxiety. 739 Theoretical Framework Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) The Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) forms the analytical basis of this study. First developed by Katz, Blumler, and Gurevitch (1973), UGT views audiences as active consumers who choose media to fulfill cognitive, affective, and social needs For social networking sites, users search for gratifications like entertainment, belongingness, identity formation, and self-presentation (Whiting & Williams, 2013; Rui & Stefanone, 2016). Yet, in unequal and gendered societies, the assumption of user autonomy is challenged. Structural barriers patriarchal norms, digital literacy disparities, and cultural surveillance limit women's capacity to function as fully autonomous agents. As such, their gratifications are incomplete or conflicted and induce psychological dissonance and alienation. Linking UGT with Digital Alienation The combining of UGT with the idea of digital alienation crosses micro-level user intentions with macro-level societal constraints. UGT describes why people use media, while digital alienation describes how those uses are restricted, deformed, or commercialized by outside systems. Combined, these paradigms enable an interactionist model of media use one that locates personal action within the parameters of structural and cultural power. Social media refers to a collection of online applications such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and other social networking platforms which establish ideological bases and technical foundation to produce and share the content generated by the users (Whitting and William, 2013). Social networking sites is a tool for communication that facilitates consumers interact with billions of individuals on a global scale (Williams et al., 2012). The theoretical concept behind the uses and gratifications approach is that individuals will opt for media in place of adversaries when it suits their purposes and delivers the potential gratification (Lariscy et al., 2011). Uses and gratification theory offers a functional strategy towards mass media functions and its implication. One of the basic principles of uses and gratification theory is that audience members are aware of what they need, and how these needs dictate media decisions so that the needs can be met (Rui & Stefanone, 2016). How media use functions is this: "(1) psychological and social roots of wants; (2) anticipations of the media or other sources; (3) media or other sources; (4) media usage habits (5) the trends in media exposure; (6) satisfactions of demands; and (7) other implications, perhaps unintended" (Katz et al., 1973). For women in Layyah, gratification-seeking behavior (in terms of connection, entertainment, or learning) is always negotiated through lenses of gender norms, privacy anxiety, and differential access. The outcome is an evolving process of negotiated agency: women engage selectively, frequently switching between curiosity and caution, connection and withdrawal. This theoretical integration allows further understanding of the way digital alienation presents not as absolute exclusion but as conditional participation influenced by technological, cultural, and psychological factors. 740 Research Methodology Research Design This qualitative study looks closely at how women in Layyah utilize social networking sites and how it affects and sometimes disrupts their lives. By focusing on these women's real-life experiences, feelings, and particular situations, the study investigates what it really means for them to navigate digital worlds. Instead, then forcing the women's experiences into predefined frames, the technique allows them to freely express how they perceive and use these platforms. The study, which is grounded in the uses and gratifications theory (UGT), asks women not just what they do online but also what they hope to get out of such interactions and how their local culture and personal beliefs impact genuinely beneficial outcomes. Table: 4.1. Thematic Framework (Based on Study Variables) Variable Methodological Focus Key Themes Awareness /Technological Literacy Understanding and use of SNS Limited functional awareness; reliance on others; passive consumption Risk Perception / Privacy Concerns Privacy and safety management Fear of exposure; family restrictions; anonymity Efficacy Belief / Cultural Norms Perceived control and empowerment Gender norms; selfcensorship; lack of training Trust and Access (Digital Divide) Inequality and participation gaps Limited connectivity; economic barriers; low digital trust Behavioral Intention / Alienation Effects Psychological and social outcomes Disconnection; low participation; comparison anxiety Sampling and Participants To give a realistic picture of what's going on, the study employed purposive sampling, hand-picking women who are engaged online and serve a variety of social roles in Layyah's semi-rural setting. Three groups of fifteen people each are present: Educated Housewives: These are women who take care of their homes and use social media to unwind or stay in touch. College Students: Social networking sites (SNS) are used by young, tech-savvy women for socializing, knowledge, and expressing oneself. Professional Workers: Educators, medical professionals, or administrators who use social networking sites to communicate and obtain information. This allows the study to capture a variety of viewpoints, including age, education, and occupation, all of which influence how these women interact with and occasionally feel excluded from the digital world. 741 Table: 4.2. Partitipant of In-depth Interviews Pseudonym Group Age Notes H1 Housewife 34 Basic smartphone, limited digital skills H2 Housewife 29 Uses WhatsApp primarily H3 Housewife 40 Sells textiles locally, uses FB marketplace via son H4 Housewife 26 Learnt basic reels from neighbor H5 Housewife 38 Privacy concerned; uses SNS for family updates S1 Student 20 Active on TikTok; restricted by parents S2 Student 22 Uses IG for study groups S3 Student 19 Aspiring voice artist; limited platform knowledge S4 Student 21 Employs SNS for entertainment S5 Student 23 Occasional content creator P1 Professional 30 Radio presenter; limited personal SNS P2 Professional 35 School teacher; cautious online P3 Professional 28 NGO worker; uses FB for awareness P4 Professional 33 Small-business owner; uses FB marketplace P5 Professional 27 Journalist; uses SNS professionally, but avoids personal exposure Data Collection In-depth, semi-structured interviews in Urdu provided the data, which was subsequently translated into English for analysis. Depending on what was most convenient for the participants, each interview was conducted online or in-person and lasted between 45 to 60 minutes. Open-ended questions in the interviews asked women to discuss topics such as: Why they use social media and what they want to gain from it. How they use it and what advantages they perceive. Their experiences using the internet and being digitally literate Concerns about their appearance, privacy, or feeling watched. When they've felt worn out, alienated, or uncomfortable using the internet Women were given the opportunity to tell their own tales within this framework, which also helped to keep the discussions on the topic of the study Data Analysis Every interview was transcribed word-for-word and examined through thematic analysis, using Braun and Clarke’s six-step method: Getting familiar with the data Creating initial codes Finding patterns and themes Reviewing those themes Defining and naming each theme Writing it all up The data was repeatedly examined for context and depth, and all coding was done by hand. Technological literacy, privacy and danger, cultural norms and perceptions 748 References Bai, H., & Gao, K. (2021, August). The Study of Social Media Alienation in the Digitized World. In 2021 5th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2021) (pp. 652-657). Atlantis Press. Comor, E. (2010). Digital prosumption and alienation. Ephemera, 10(3), 439. 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