Cultural dynamics of digital space: Democracy, civic engagement and youth participation in virtual spheres

Abstract

Globally, the digital culture of the youth has been playing a decisive role in the promotion of networking democracy, civic engagement and political participation in online spheres, and similar dynamics are being witnessed in the politics of East and SouthAsia. The present study has been conducted in two countries (Indonesia & Pakistan) focusing on youth networked engagement (civic and social) and political participation in virtual affairs. Indonesia and Pakistan possess distinct culture, religious, and historical identities the youth culture show surprising commonalities which reflect the universal nature of youthful aspirations, goals and desires. To help young people embrace social media as a multi-faceted channel, the current article demonstrates exploratory information and aims at delineating the usage of social media in escalating participation in political arenas, protecting (and acquiring) political human rights, and revitalizing the importance of their local and digital networks. The researcher (s) employed a cross-sectional study design and carried out a survey to collect the data from the citizens of Indonesia and Pakistan. The data was gathered through a standardized questionnaire. As a sampling frame was established, the researchers approached the general public for filling out the questionnaire through both offline and online sources. The results depict that social media is a platform for political communication, political expression, and facilitating digital democracy. The findings show that culture of social media politics was strongly correlated with political efficacy, social media and democracy. Hence, it concludes that a significant youth culture in these countries have tremendous chances to strengthen inter-cultural relations, and encourage to participate in civic, political and democratic platforms.