The Influence of Social Networking on Social Freedom Among Young Adult Women

Abstract

Due to the impact of Covid- 19 pandemic and the related lockdown, the overall life style of people changed, all around the globe. One significant change is the uprise in the usage of virtual platforms including social networking for a multitude of purposes. Along with the usage, misuse and cybercrime rates have also heightened. Incidences of the use of social media against women liberty has been reported. Within this background the major objective of this study was to understand the influence of social networking on young adult women’s social freedom in the pandemic situation where one’s time is much spend online on social networking. A sample of 124 young adult women participants, within the age group of 20-25 was taken by purposive sampling method. The study adopted cross-sectional research design that used quantitative assessment to fulfill the objectives. Social networking-social freedom scale developed by the researchers was used to measure the influence of social networking on the social freedom of the participants. Frequency analysis, t- test and ANOVA were the statistical tools employed for data analysis. The results indicated that social networking influences social freedom of the participants in moderate to high ranges. The study also explored the influence of socio-demographic variables and it was found that there was no significant difference in the influence of social networking with respect to the considered demographic variables, that is, employment status, religion, family type, marital status, living area, educational qualification and monthly income. Social networking influences social freedom of women to a great extent.