Digital Youth Lifestyles in Island Communities: Social Media, Peer Influence, and Socioeconomic Background

Abstract

This study examines how young people in island communities negotiate digital lifestyles through the interplay of social media, peer influence, socioeconomic background, and locally embedded communal values. Moving beyond technology-centred explanations, the study conceptualizes young people as active social agents who interpret, adopt, modify, and resist digital trends within everyday social environments. A qualitative case study was conducted at a senior high school in Ambon, Indonesia, using an interpretive sociological approach. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and observation, complemented by teachers’ and parents’ perspectives for source triangulation. Thematic analysis identified patterns of digital media use, lifestyle aspirations, peer conformity, social validation, symbolic consumption, socioeconomic constraints, identity formation, and communal values. Findings indicate that social media is a major source of lifestyle aspirations and cultural references, while peer groups shape conformity, social validation, and lifestyle performance. Socioeconomic background acts as a filtering mechanism that conditions young people’s capacity to participate in and negotiate emerging digital trends. The study contributes to digital and youth sociology by conceptualising island youth lifestyles as ongoing negotiations between global digital culture, peer expectations, socioeconomic resources, and locally embedded social values, highlighting the need for context-sensitive digital literacy and youth programmes reflecting island communities’ realities.