Social Media Usage and Political Polarization among Pakistani Youth: An Analysis of General Elections 2024

Abstract

Political polarization is a growing concern of many countries in the world including Pakistan. It has considerably increased in Pakistan further leads social and political division even violence. With the evolution of advance means of communication, the political discourse has taken new considerable orientation. Social media platform especially Twitter is increasingly used by the political elite to gain support of general public, and to achieve political objectives while YouTube is used by political analyst and journalists to influence the audience. The objective of this research was to investigate and analyze the reasons for political polarization among youth in Pakistan through social media (Twitter and YouTube) with a special focus on the general election 2024. Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) worked as a theoretical lens for conducting the study. This research adopted an interpretive approach to research and data was collected by conducting interviews. Sixteen participants from two public sector universities, i.e University of the Punjab, Lahore and The Islamia University of Bahawalpur were purposefully selected for interviewing. The study findings showed both positive and negative role of social media in Pakistani Political arena. It was concluded that social media's immediacy and reach exacerbate this issue, while the systemic role of biased information in traditional media significantly contributes to political divides,