The Role of Digital Awareness in Instilling Digital Citizenship Values Among Saudi Youth: A Field Study

The problem addressed in this study lies in the limited comprehensive understanding of digital citizenship among certain segments of Saudi youth. Their digital awareness tends to focus primarily on technical skills, with insufficient understanding of their rights, responsibilities, and ethical behaviors in the digital environment—despite their intensive use of digital media in daily life. The importance of this study emerges in light of escalating digital challenges such as misinformation, privacy violations, and cyberbullying. Therefore, it seeks to analyze the role of digital awareness in fostering digital citizenship values among youth, using the Theory of Planned Behavior as a framework. The study was conducted on a sample of 400 young men and women from Saudi society. Findings revealed that digital media has become an integral part of Saudi youths’ daily lives, with more than half of the sample using it daily for 4 to 6 hours. Platforms such as Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram were the most commonly used to access digital citizenship-related content. This intensive use has contributed significantly to reinforcing values such as national belonging, respect for laws, and community participation. Youths’ digital awareness was also reflected in their ethical conduct in the digital environment, including respecting privacy and verifying information—benefiting from Vision 2030 initiatives and various awareness campaigns. Furthermore, 79% of the respondents acknowledged that digital media enhanced essential digital traits such as intellectual honesty, cultural respect, and combating cyberbullying. However, a smaller percentage indicated variability in their level of awareness and practice, highlighting the ongoing need for educational and media efforts to strengthen digital citizenship among all youth segments. The study recommends establishing a sustainable national program for digital literacy targeting youth, to be implemented through a partnership between the Ministries of Education and Media. This program should focus on developing digital citizenship skills through educational curricula and digital platforms, with special attention to delivering awareness content via the channels most preferred by young people to ensure effective impact and engagement. Keywords: Digital Awareness – Digital Citizenship – Saudi Youth – Theory of Planned Behavior.