Abstract

Social media has become an important space through which rural youth construct negotiate and communicate their identities beyond the physical boundaries of their villages. Platforms such as Instagram YouTube Facebook and short-video applications allow young people to represent local culture language festivals occupations and community experiences to wider audiences. At the same time digital interaction can transform traditional forms of belonging by connecting rural youth with geographically distant networks and cultural influences. This paper examines how social media contributes to the reconstruction of community belonging among rural youth in India. It explores the relationship between village identity digital self-presentation local culture peer networks and changing aspirations. Drawing upon recent scholarship on digital identity rural transformation and social media the paper argues that digital platforms do not simply weaken village-based belonging they can simultaneously reprod