Author Name: Sundeep Katevarapu & Aarzoo Date: 25-03-2026
Social media platforms have become primary arenas for identity construction among contemporary youth, providing unprecedented opportunities for self-presentation and social feedback while simultaneously imposing powerful normative constraints shaped by algorithmic design, commercial imperatives, and globally dominant cultural standards. This paper presents a sociocultural analysis of identity construction processes among Indian youth aged 16–26, drawing on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, Goffman’s dramaturgical model of self-presentation, and an IKS-informed perspective on authentic selfhood to develop the Sociocultural Identity Construction Framework (SICF). Using a multi-method research design comprising a survey (N = 490), digital ethnography across three platform contexts (Instagram, YouTube, and ShareChat), and narrative interviews (N = 28), the study examines how Indian youth negotiate cultural identity, gender identity, regional identity, and aspirational identity on social media platforms. Findings reveal significant platform-specific differences in identity expression strategies, with ShareChat users demonstrating higher rates of indigenous cultural content sharing and regional language use relative to Instagram users, who showed stronger orientation toward globalized aesthetic and aspirational norms. Narrative interviews reveal complex strategies of identity management including compartmentalization, code-switching, strategic authenticity, and cultural reclamation, with important implications for understanding the psychological costs and opportunities of social media-mediated identity work. The SICF framework identifies five key determinants of identity construction outcomes—platform affordances, peer norms, family cultural expectations, personal values coherence, and media literacy—and proposes an intervention model for supporting psychologically healthy identity construction in social media environments.
Keywords: social media, identity construction, Indian youth, sociocultural theory, self-presentation, cultural identity, SICF.
