Psychological and Social Effects of Context Collapse in Readers’ Interactions with Content Published on Social Media Sites: A Comparative Field Study

Abstract

Social media has brought about a fundamental shift in the nature of user interaction, as online content increasingly faces the challenge of context collapse—the convergence of multiple audiences with diverse backgrounds and interests within a single communicative space. Against this backdrop, the present study investigates the psychological and social effects of context collapse on young people’s engagement with digital content across four Arab countries: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates. The study is based on a field sample of 634 participants. The findings indicate high levels of social media use among youth, with YouTube emerging as the most widely used platform. Entertainment and news consumption were identified as the primary motivations for use. Approximately half of the participants rely on a single account for multiple purposes, increasing the likelihood of content misinterpretation and unexpected audience reactions. The study reports substantial psychological effects (M = 3.62), including efforts to maintain consistency between personal values and shared content, as well as heightened sensitivity to potential criticism. Significant social effects were also observed (M = 3.58), particularly in the form of awkward situations and misunderstandings across different audience groups. Statistical analyses reveal significant positive correlations between users’ awareness of context collapse and the level of psychological and social impact. Demographic variables also play a role, with stronger effects observed among males, individuals with higher education, users managing multiple accounts, and participants from Egypt, who were the most affected group. The study underscores the importance of developing digital identity management skills, fostering awareness of cultural differences among audiences, and adopting account-segmentation strategies to mitigate the effects of context collapse. These measures can contribute to safer and more effective engagement on social media platforms, while also offering a theoretical contribution to understanding user behavior in multi-audience digital environments.