Internet, satellite programs and religious identity(Case study of gigh school students in marvdasht)

Religion، identity and media play major role in defining and directing the lives of young people in every community، especially in Islamic countries such as Iran. Concerning the connection between religion and the media، in particular، new foreign media، many people believe that the media undermine the religious identity of the people by distributing and displaying opinions، images and ideas، which are against and in conflict with religious values. Another fact is that commenting on the youths and teens’ religious transformation، regardless of the media seems insufficient and incomplete. The present study investigates the relationship between media، i. e. the internet and satellite programs، and religious identity of high school students in Marvdasht. To overcome the objectives of study، we employed a survey research via providing a questionnaire to collect data. Participants are also chosen through a cluster sampling technique to fit the study requirement. Findings reveal a negative and significant correlation between the two variables، i. e. using the internet and satellite، and three dimensions of religious identity of students. The highest correlations between using the internet and three dimensions of religious identity are found in practical، emotional and ideological dimensions، (-0. 53)، (-0. 44) and (-0. 39) respectively. Thus، it might be concluded that، greater use of satellite and the internet aim to reduce the religious identity of the studied high school students in three practical، emotional and ideological dimensions.