University students’ perceptions of social media use and intellectual security: a cross-sectional study in Egypt

Introduction Intellectual security—understood as critical awareness, balanced judgment, and resilience to manipulative or extremist persuasion—is shaped within digital environments. This study examined university students’ perceptions of social media and of media institutions’ role in countering extremist discourse. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 384 undergraduates at Port Said University, Egypt, recruited through non-probability convenience sampling. The researcher-developed questionnaire included demographic and platform-use items, a 20-item scale assessing the perceived awareness-oriented role of social media in intellectual security, and a 5-item scale assessing the perceived institutional-media role in countering extremism. Pilot validation involved 164 cases. Analyses included reliability testing, principal-axis factoring, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, multiple linear regression, and model diagnostics. Results Internal consistency was α  = 0.922 for the awareness-oriented scale and α = 0.802 for the institutional-media scale. Students reported high endorsement of both roles (M = 3.96, SD = 0.42; M = 4.03, SD = 0.39), and the scales were positively correlated (r = 0.615). In adjusted models, daily social media use was the strongest predictor of both outcomes (β = 0.503 and β = 0.585, respectively; p  < 0.001). Facebook use retained smaller positive associations (β = 0.173, p  < 0.001; β = 0.109, p  = 0.026); adjusted R² values were 0.500 and 0.412. Discussion Students perceived intellectual security as linked to digital engagement, critical interpretation, and institutional communication. These findings reflect associations rather than causal platform effects, direct exposure to extremist content, or demonstrated institutional effectiveness.