Impact of Social Media Platforms on Youth: An Anthropological Study

Social media has become a ubiquitous sociocultural phenomenon, transforming how young people communicate, socialize, and construct identities. This anthropological study examines social media use among young people aged 18–25 in urban and semi-urban areas of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, South India. It explores usage patterns, self-identity expression, maintenance of social relationships, digital literacy, and the influence of gender, education, and socioeconomic background on digital participation. It also considers how young people perceive social media’s everyday effects on their social and cultural lives.A mixed-methods design was adopted. Quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire administered to 60 youth respondents, while semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants. The questionnaire demonstrated high overall reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.91), and its individual scales showed acceptable to high reliability. Content validity was reviewed by experts, while exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to assess construct validity. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests of independence; qualitative data were analyzed thematically using NVivo.Findings indicate that social media is embedded in young people’s everyday lives: 73.3% reported using platforms more than once daily. WhatsApp (93.3%), Instagram (88.3%), and YouTube (81.7%) were the most widely used platforms. Entertainment (90.0%) and maintaining contact with friends (85.0%) were the leading purposes, followed by information seeking (63.3%) and identity expression (35.0%). Digital literacy levels were low for 23.3% of respondents, medium for 48.3%, and high for 28.3%. Differences were particularly evident in advanced skills, including evaluating information and managing privacy.Hypothesis testing found significant associations between digital literacy and frequency of use (p = 0.048; Cramér’s V = 0.324), digital literacy and platform diversity (p = 0.047; Cramér’s V = 0.283), gender and identity expression (p = 0.037; Cramér’s V = 0.331), and gender and platform choice (p = 0.041; Cramér’s V = 0.326). Other hypothesized relationships were not statistically significant. The qualitative analysis identified five themes: curated identity performance, digital kinship and connectivity, stratified digital competencies, gendered digital surveillance, and ambivalent impression perceptions.The study contributes to digital anthropology by illustrating how global platforms are locally adopted in South Indian contexts, how social relationships are sustained in digital spaces, and how digital literacy may function as cultural capital. It offers recommendations for educators, parents, policymakers, platform designers, and young people to promote more equitable and beneficial digital participation.