Internet, Satellite Programs and Religious Identity (A Case Study of High School Students in Marvdasht City)

Abstract

Religion, religious identity and media play an important and fundamental role in defining and directing the lives of teenagers and young people in any society, especially Islamic societies like Iran. But regarding the link between religion and the media, especially foreign modern media, many people believe that these media provide the basis for weakening the religious identity of people by publishing and broadcasting various opinions, images, ideas, different and contrary to religious values. Therefore, today it seems that commenting on the changes and developments of the religious identity of youth and teenagers is incomplete and insufficient, regardless of the role of the media. Therefore, the present article examines the relationship between the use of satellite and the Internet with the religious identity of high school students in Morvdasht city. The research method of the study is a survey, and a questionnaire tool and a multi-stage cluster sampling method were used to collect data. Based on the results of the research, the correlation of both variables of Internet and satellite use with all three dimensions of students' religious identity was negative and significant. The highest correlation of Internet use with dimensions of religious identity was, respectively, in practical dimensions (-53), emotional (-52) and belief (-49). The highest correlation of satellite use variable with religious identity was, respectively, in the practical dimensions (-53), emotional (-44) and belief (-39). In this way, it can be said that more use of satellite media and internet in order to reduce the religious identity of secondary school students has been investigated in the three dimensions of practical, emotional and religious.