SOCIAL MEDIA USE PATTERNS AND CULTURAL TENSIONS AMONG GEN Z TELUGU MOTHERS IN VISAKHAPATNAM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69980/7zdtbh09Keywords:
social media, maternal identity, Generation Z, Telugu culture, joint family, digital-cultural dissonance, Visakhapatnam, WhatsApp, Instagram, gender studiesAbstract
While young moms in metropolitan India now have more ways than ever to express themselves, connect with others, and learn about parenthood, they are also facing new kinds of societal pressure and identity crises as a result of the rise of social media. Among the Telugu moms of Generation Z (Gen Z) living in urban Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, this study seeks to understand their social media habits and the cultural tensions that exist among them. Using a descriptive sociological methodology, this study uses a structured questionnaire to examine how 75 Gen Z women, aged 18-27, who are mothers of children aged 0-3 years and live in urban Visakhapatnam, use digital platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram to construct their maternal identity and how it interacts with the normative expectations of the Telugu joint family. According to the results, Instagram is the most popular place for mothers to show themselves as they aspire to be, while WhatsApp is the most popular medium for mothers to develop communities with one another. There was cultural friction between the demands of their family and community networks and the digitally circulated ideals of motherhood, according to many respondents, especially those living in joint family households. Within the context of the patriarchal bargain proposed by Kandiyoti (1988) and the subaltern counterpublics proposed by Fraser (1990), the study presents the idea of digital-cultural dissonance to characterize this identity strain that is structurally formed. Policy and community-based support for mothers experiencing mental health issues in metropolitan Andhra Pradesh can benefit from these results.
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