New media and the social awareness of youth in Bangladesh

Abstract

Youth as a change agent and strong force in social actions can play a significant role in the development process of a society endowed with different socioeconomic problems like inequality, injustice, social violence, violation of human rights, etc. Raising youths’ social awareness, in this regard, is the important point to be considered as a quality pathway to the sustainable development of a society. Now, a society can be more cognizant of social phenomena because its individuals are more connected to each other than before with diverse new media technologies. So, the debate over the role of new media to bring positive changes is drawing the attention of scholars and theorists. Through incorporating primary and secondary data, this study explores to what extent Bangladeshi youths are being aware of social issues within the new media sphere. Both the quantitative measurement and qualitative interpretation had been reciprocally considered in the study. The findings arose from a convenience sample survey on 157 youths inclusive of 11 in-depth interviews with new media users. The study suggests a more critical understanding of new media driven social awareness and has been concluded with some guidelines for the policymakers to use new media for the cognitive functioning of the young generation so that they engage themselves in civic activism.