The use of Facebook has changed the social interaction of people in different places including the Saudi Arabian society in respect to their cultural norms. The platform has changed the way people socially interact and how they perceive their traditional cultural values. This influence in the cultural norms warrants the need to discuss the studies done in Saudi Arabia to evaluate the level of change that the site has had on the Saudi Arabian society (Aljasir, Woodcock & Harrison, 2015). Facebook has promoted inappropriate interactions, free information flow, and anonymity in Saudi Arabia, which supports the violation of Saudi Arabia’s cultural norms.
The research done by Aljasir, Woodcock, and Harrison (2015) indicates that Facebook has made the Saudi Arabians to be anonymous when they violate their cultural norms. For instance, the social website enables the females to post things about their lives to the internet without the revelation of their identity to the other users (Aljasir, Woodcock & Harrison, 2015). Thus, anonymity gives the females a chance to update personal information in their profiles while hiding their real identity.
Besides, the website enables the female users to live a private life, which is completely unknown to the other family members. Both males and females users ensure that their Facebook accounts remain unknown to their families (Hargittai, 2010). To illustrate this, Aljasir, Woodcock, and Harrison (2015) state that most of the people in Saudi Arabia change their privacy settings to control the kind of information that the public can know about them. Consequently, the users can violate various cultural norms in the private lives without being disciplined for their actions.
According to Howard and Hussain (20111), the social website has enabled the male and female users to inappropriately interact with each other in an uncensored environment. On the contrary, the social norms of the Saudi Arabian society prohibit this kind of interaction (Kraidy, 2007). The society firmly believes in control of information so as to preserve the community members’ values and attitude.
Besides the above studies, Guta and Karolak (2015) also conducted a study that demonstrated how Facebook had given the female users a chance to express their opinions on their cultural norms. This is in contrary to their normal societal expectations since the Saudi Arabia society expects them to be voiceless on any matter pertaining their traditions (Guta & Karolak, 2015). According to the study, the guaranteed privacy protection empowers the women to freely negotiate and express their opinion on various important issues without being afraid of victimization (Guta & Karolak, 2015). Such platforms also help in educating women and building groups that help fight for their rights. As a result, they have formed Facebook sites that adrress these women empowerment agendas.
Judging from the arguments discussed above, the effect of Facebook to the cultural norms is conclusively negative. This decision bases on the findings from the research studies done in Saudi Arabia regarding the impact of the social media site on Saudi Arabia’s cultural norms. The studies have proved that Facebook has promoted inappropriate interactions, uncontrolled information flow and anonymity which promotes the violation of Saudi Arabia’s cultural norms. These influences warrants the need to regulate the use of the social media site in Saudi Arabia kingdom so as to promote the good effects and counter the negative effect that will negatively corrupt the society’s integrity.
References
Guta, H., & Karolak, M. (2015). Veiling and blogging: social media as sites of identity negotiation and expression among Saudi women. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 16(2), 115.Retrieved from http://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/
Aljasir, S., Woodcock, A., & Harrison, S. (2013). Facebook in Saudi Arabia: Some Aspects of Facebook Usage by Saudi University Students. International Journal of Engineering and Technology, 5(1), 80. Retrieved from http://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/http://road.issn.org/issn/1793-8236-iacsit-international-journal-of-engineering-and-technology-#.WEUpX4p_fIU
Howard, P. N., & Hussain, M. M. (2011). The role of digital media. Journal of Democracy, 22(3), 35-48. Retrieved from http://www.gsdrc.org/document-library/the-role-of-digital-media/
Hargittai, E. (2010, August 2). Facebook privacy settings: Who cares?. First Monday, 15(8). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/article/view/3086/2589
Kraidy, M. M. (2007). Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the changing Arab information order. International Journal of Communication, 1, 139. Retrieved from http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/18/22
