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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Mindfulness
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1500727
This article is part of the Research Topic Applications of Mindfulness in Media and Communication Studies View all 5 articles

The Impact of Social Media Use on Tolerance, Community Peace, Online Ethical Awareness among Adolescents in the United Arab Emirates

Provisionally accepted
Najia Al Ketbi Najia Al Ketbi 1Mohammed Habes Mohammed Habes 2,3*Razaz Waheeb Attar Razaz Waheeb Attar 4Dina Tahat Dina Tahat 5Amal Hassan Alhazmi Amal Hassan Alhazmi 4
  • 1 Mohamed Bin Zayed University for Humanities, Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
  • 2 Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan
  • 3 Department of Radio and Television, Faculty of Mass Communication, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Irbid, Jordan
  • 4 College of Business and Administration, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • 5 College of Education, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Social media use has increased after the Covid-19, indicating several effects on users. Talking specifically about its effects on adolescents, several studies have witnessed its positive and negative consequences on young users. This research also aims to examine the positive effects of social media use on adolescents from a Media Mindfulness Perspective, including tolerance, community peace, and online ethical awareness. Theoretically supported by Social Learning Theory, the data were gathered using 379 structured questionnaires. Results indicated an overall positive influence of social media use on adolescents in UAE. It is found that social media use positively affects tolerance among adolescents, suggesting an improved tolerance among the relevant users. Also, the effect of social media uses on community peace remained positive, implying that digital platforms are constructive means of teaching peace and harmony. Finally, results also indicated the positive effects of social media use on online ethical awareness among adolescents in UAE. Overall, these results suggest a positive, constructive role of social media use in changing the behaviors of the young generation. Under the social learning theory, this study also suggested social media as a powerful tool for learning positive behaviors, further influencing and improving societal peace and harmony. Finally, the study's significance and limitations are discussed.

    Keywords: Social Media Use on Tolerance, social learning theory, Community Peace, Online Ethical Awareness, Media Mindfulness

    Received: 23 Sep 2024; Accepted: 14 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Al Ketbi, Habes, Attar, Tahat and Alhazmi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mohammed Habes, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.