Digital Migration: How Internet Access is Reshaping Social Norms and Community Bonds in Rural Pakistan

Abstract

Background: Sudden penetration of internet in rural Pakistan has driven digital transformative initiatives, and is challenging the culturally accepted ways of living entwined with community relationships. Despite the huge attention given to the city, research is fairly sparse about what digital migration does to village cultural and community life.

Objective: This study will examine the role of internet access in transforming social practices, norms and behavior and community dynamics in rural Pakistan, focusing on issues of generation, gender and community Participation.

Method A mixed method design was adopted, involving quantitative surveys (n = 300) with qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews (n = 30) conducted in rural districts in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KT). Quantitative data was tested using SPSS for descriptive statistics, inferential statistics; and qualitative narratives were reviewed using thematic analysis.

Results: The results also indicated a strong relationship between use of the internet and changing in social values especially of the young people and educated person erosion trends. Gender roles were being reconsidered, and so were group experiences, while digital means provided the infrastructure for social interactions of a new kind. Regressions tests corroborate the Strength of prediction of internet use to transformed social cognitions and decreased participation in local communities.

Conclusion: Rural Pakistan's internet usage is fueling a digital exodus from the village that upend culture and community. This shift is representative of a hybridization of old and new values and it requires digital inclusion policies suitable to the culture.