Social and Entertainment Trends on Social Media Platforms and Their Repercussions on Libyan Women An Analytical Theoretical Study

Abstract

This study aims to identify the most prominent trend patterns that Libyan woman engage with on social media platforms, along with the motives behind their participation in and imitation of these trends. It further seeks to analyze the social, cultural, and psychological repercussions of the trend phenomenon on women's lifestyles and value systems, and to determine the extent to which following these trends affects their self-image and self-satisfaction.

The study relied on the descriptive-analytical method, drawing on a review of the literature and a content analysis of a set of trends in order to uncover their underlying meanings. The study found that the trend patterns Libyan women engage with vary between heritage-based trends, which focus on highlighting traditional rituals, preserving cultural heritage, and family occasions such as the "Al-Ala" trend and Eid-related trends; and appearance-oriented trends with a consumerist dimension that focus on physical appearance and visual display, such as the "winter" trend, according to temporal, geographic, and influencer-driven dimensions.

The motives behind women's participation in and imitation of these trends were found to include the search for a safe space for psychological expression, the release of pressures, gaining social acceptance, and strengthening family cohesion. The study also revealed social, cultural, and psychological repercussions affecting women's lifestyles and value systems, manifested in a decline in the role of traditional upbringing, an erosion of family privacy, and the dominance of consumerist behavior and material ostentation.

These appearance-based trends were found to have negatively affected the mental image and self-satisfaction of Libyan women, as a result of their self-evaluation becoming tied to newly emerging digital standards that heighten feelings of anxiety and undermine self-confidence.