Role of New Communication Technologies in Transformation of Socio-Cultural Milieu: A Study in a Religious Town of India

Globalization refers to widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life. Mass media communication had been considered as one of the important variable for the modernization of traditional societies. However, the very notion of modernity is under challenge today. There are two sets of scholars on this issue. One set of scholars are those who hold the view that the project of the modernity is over and beginning of a new epoch of globalization is under process. On the other hand, there are scholars who are of the view that the modernity is not over. Instead it is now transforming itself into a high order. They conceptualize the new stage as late modernity or high modernity and new communication technologies (NCTs) are at the heart of globalization process. These new communication technologies, based on satellite technology and computer processing technologies facilitate 24/7 connectivity to the users at the planetary level and thus has blurred the time-space dimension and thereby transforming the socio-cultural milieu of both the developing and the developed societies. This proposes to undertake an empirical study to explore the role of NCTs in transformation of socio-cultural milieu of the developing society like India. If globalization is a process of transformation of modernity into a higher order through NCTs, it is important to examine its role in the transformation of socio-cultural milieu of these societies. The present paper is on the changes taking place in the life of the post-graduate girl students (N=50) in the religious town of Varanasi when they are exposed to modern mass media and gadgets of NCTs like smart phone, tablets, i-pads empowered with internet.