Digital Democratization and the Evolution of Social Consciousness: A Quantitative Study on the Impact of Post-2016 Internet Proliferation on Dogmatic and Communal Boundaries in India

This study examines how the post-2016 proliferation of low-cost mobile broadband in India has shaped individual epistemic autonomy and attitudes toward inherited dogmatic and communal boundaries. Drawing on Information Democratization Theory, the digital extension of Intergroup Contact Theory, and Epistemic Self-Determination Theory, a structured questionnaire covering four constructs — Digital Access and Fact-Checking Behaviour (DA), Exposure to Pluralism (EP), Epistemic Autonomy and Rationalism (AR), and Decoupling from Dogmatic and Communal Enclosures (DC) — was administered to a pilot sample of 170 respondents drawn from rural, semi-urban, and urban locations across India. Composite reliability for the four constructs ranged from acceptable to moderate, and inter-construct correlations were positive and significant throughout. Multiple regression analysis indicated that Digital Access and Pluralism Exposure jointly explained approximately 47 per cent of the variance in Epistemic Autonomy and Rationalism (R² = 0.468, p < .001) and 41 per cent of the variance in Decoupling from Dogmatic and Communal Enclosures (R² = 0.414, p < .001). Independent fact-checking behaviour alone was a significant predictor of rational epistemic orientation (β = 0.358, p < .001). Demographic moderators — age, geographic habitat, and education — did not reach statistical significance in this pilot sample, suggesting that the association between digital access and epistemic autonomy is broadly consistent across sub-groups rather than concentrated in any one segment. The findings extend digital sociology scholarship on the Indian internet revolution by empirically linking connectivity infrastructure to individual-level cognitive and ideological outcomes, while also identifying measurement and interpretive limitations that warrant a larger, stratified follow-up study.