Digital Moral Witnessing Among Indian Adolescents: Identity, Moral Reasoning, and Cultural Grounding in Response to Global Conflict Media

Abstract

Adolescents encounter graphic, emotionally charged accounts of distant conflict through social media, streaming platforms, and interactive digital storytelling, and this encounter is rarely incidental. The present study examines how such exposure shapes identity formation and moral reasoning among Indian adolescents, drawing on Indian psychological constructs, sahṛdayatā (empathetic resonance), svadharma (personal moral responsibility), and the evolving self, or ātman, alongside narrative identity theory. Eighteen adolescents (ages 16–19; ten female, eight male) from urban schools and colleges in Bengaluru and Chennai viewed curated, age-appropriate conflict-related media and subsequently completed semi-structured interviews and written reflections. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-phase thematic analysis, with coding cross-checked by two independent coders. Four themes emerged: empathic resonance and emotional overload, moral reflection and personal responsibility, disturbance in self-identity, and cultural framing as a source of grounding. Engagement with conflict media fostered empathy and prompted critical moral reflection, yet it also produced distress and, in some participants, identity dissonance; cultural and spiritual resources appeared to buffer this dissonance, although the buffering effect could not be measured directly within the present design. These findings indicate that digital moral witnessing is not a peripheral feature of adolescent media use but a substantive site of moral and identity development, one that Western frameworks alone do not fully capture. Implications for culturally responsive digital literacy education and adolescent mental health practice are discussed.