Social Media and Its Effect on Mother-Daughter Socialization in the Digital Era (A Qualitative Research)

Abstract

The digital age has affected many aspects of human life and changed many daily relationships, especially within the family. One of the most significant changes has been the role of networked social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp) in shaping the way family members communicate, especially between mothers and daughters. This paper examines how the emergence of digital communication tools has affected mother-daughter relationships in terms of emotional closeness, conflict, support, communication patterns, and broader socialization processes. Using a qualitative method, this research explores how social media has affected on mother-daughter communication and how children are socializing parents through conducting a semi-structured interview with nine mothers. The main findings in this attempt highlighted that the socialization process which used to be hierarchical launching parents to child, has changed now. It became a more dialectical relationship where mothers are influenced by their daughters, and they experience new learning practices through social media together in the digitalized world.