The Role of Social Media Platforms in Confronting Intellectual Extremism from Majmaah University Students Perspective

The present study aims to investigate the role of social media platforms in confronting intellectual extremism among Majmaah University students. The researchers conducted the descriptive analytical approach and applied a 20- item questionnaire to a randomly selected sample of (213) students. The results showed that Tik Tok and Snapchat were ranked first among the study sample. Also, there was a moderate negative impact of social media on intellectual security, with a mean of (2.99). This is due to the nature of the content published on networks and its impact on the subscribers. It indicated the importance of social media, more specifically Tik Tok and Snapchat, among the sample of the study. It can be attributed to gender since females are more interested in social networks to publish and share photos. Moreover, the results revealed that social media platforms played a moderate role in resisting intellectual deviation among the participants, with an average mean of (2.96). There were no statistical differences in the impact of social media platforms on young peoples intellectual security and their role in resisting intellectual extremism due to responses to the study questions. The findings of the study call for the necessity of activating the positive role of social media by exploring new approaches to evolve effective alternatives in dealing with social networks by enhancing young peoples media literacy. Contribution/Originality: This study contributed to the existing literature by identifying the role of social media in combating intellectual extremism from the perspective of students at Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia. It also explored the most popular social media platforms among university students and their impact on students intellectual security