Rustini Floranita
Pelita Harapan University, Surabaya, Indonesia

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Digital Media as a Cultural Stage: From Users to Reflective Inhabitants in the Context of Contemporary Indonesia Rustini Floranita; Diana Maharani; Thomas Tokan Pureklolon
International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Vol. 4 No. 2 (2026): International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities
Publisher : LPPM Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Ekonomi 45 Mataram

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.55681/ijssh.v4i2.2196

Abstract

This study reexamines the position of digital media within the horizon of contemporary Indonesian culture. Digital media can no longer be adequately understood as a mere technical instrument for information exchange; rather, it must be recognised as a cultural stage upon which human beings dwell, negotiate meaning, construct identity, and contest power. Departing from Tokan Pureklolon’s (2025) framework on media and the digital public sphere, and through a critical dialogue with the works of Castells (2010), Foucault (1980), van Dijk (2013), and Pariser (2011), this research employs a qualitative literature review combined with a case study approach on contemporary Indonesian digital phenomena, including the #ReformasiDikorupsi (2019) and #GejayanMemanggil (2019) movements, the polarisation pattern across the 2014–2024 presidential election cycles, the controversial provisions of the ITE Law, and the transnational activism of Indonesia’s K-Pop fandom communities. The findings suggest that cultural transformation within Indonesia’s digital space cannot be reduced to a technological shift; it is, rather, an ontological shift from the position of user to that of inhabitant - a dweller who resides in and is morally engaged with the digital socio-cultural ecosystem. The novelty of this study lies in the formulation of the Triadic Reflective Framework of Digital Culture (TRF-DC), which synthesises the three pillars of digital culture - meaning production, identity formation, and power relations - with an ethical-reflective layer as the ontological precondition of digital citizenship. The study further proposes the concept of the Reflective Inhabitant as a normative model for the Indonesian digital citizen, integrating technical skill, critical literacy, and ethical consciousness within a single, culturally grounded framework.