DIGITAL MEDIA AND PARLIAMENTARY ENGAGEMENT: PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL SCIENCES STUDENTS AT TURKISH UNIVERSITIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46763/Abstract
In the last decade, global society has undergone a considerable technological transformation that has dramatically changed the ways people communicate with each other at personal, social, government, and commercial levels. A large part of this transformation has been the emergence of digital media platforms, which are the preferred method of distributing information, connecting with others in a social context, and engaging with governments through interaction with citizens. With the increasing emphasis on digital media by governments as a way to disseminate official messages, influence public opinion, and communicate directly with citizens, digital media have become a central source of news for individuals regarding their own the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT) in Turkey's case. According to data from this study, 55.5% of all Social Studies students at Turkish universities indicated a preference for following the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT) news through digital media; in this case, X was by far the preferred outlet among digital media because of its high volume of political information. Overall, they were most interested in the overall social climate affecting their fellow students within Turkish society related to any developments on legislative processes through3 X. The research illustrates that student participation in different types of digital media platform users have experienced a positive relationship in three areas: cognitive, affective, and behavioral, especially with their knowledge acquisition due to a strong correlation between these variables (knowledge acquisition). In addition to the above-mentioned correlations, digital media platforms are particularly helpful to students wanting to learn about political processes/legal issues and are supportive of active engagement in the public debate. The overall results show that by using digital media, students can become more politically aware and will have higher levels of civic engagement throughout the country of Turkey.
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