Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — A study prepared by researcher Faisal Al-Manea entitled "Means of social media and their role in creating social alienation", issued by Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, shows that 79.3 percent of households do not care about their children's usage of social media, Al-Watan reported.

The study, which was applied to 420 students enrolled in the first year of King Saud University, using qualitative methodology explained that social media contributed to changing the identity of the social relationship. It became clear that the more the means of electronic communication, the greater the individual's feeling of social alienation in general.

The study identified 4 negative effects: weak ties between youth and their families, the phenomenon of alienation with some users of electronic means of communication, which might lead to addiction because the user sits more than 3 hours, as well as their association with terrorist thought. The study pointed out that the age group most inclined to use entertainment and social media sites ranged between 15 and 25 years.

Social alienation: The study stressed that the sites of communication work to deepen the phenomenon of social alienation, while influencing the characteristics associated with this phenomenon, which is the dismantling of traditional identity. People who are addicted to social media often use aliases and faces that are not theirs, and some have more than one account and more than one identity. The study explained that social media have caused a kind of chaos in the real world, and weakening of national affiliations in favor of hypothetical ones.

Reasons for alienation: The study identified three reasons for youth alienation, most notably adolescence, which is the nature of growth giving the person a sense of alienation. The alienation is attributed to the cultural conditions that the individual experiences and affects his development.

Family awareness: The study recommended educating families to work on containing their children, encouraging their participation in family dialogue, reducing their use of electronic means of communication, diversifying the activities practiced by children in a day to reduce their sense of routine, and encouraging families to encourage children to build realistic social relationships. In addition, put forward their ideas to have meaningful discussions with the family, so as to enhance their social integration, and reduce their sense of isolation.