Thai tourists most hooked to smartphones while travelling

[webfact]

Thai tourists most hooked to smartphones while travelling



BANGKOK: -- Thai tourists rank the top among tourists from 28 countries who are most hooked to their smartphones while travelling, according to a survey conducted by hotel.com website.

The survey shows that 85 percent of Thai tourists admitted that they used their smartphones while travelling. This was followed by 78 percent among South Korean tourists, 69 percent among Japanese tourists, 67 percent among Chinese tourists, 60 percent by Singapore tourists.

Less than one percent of Thai tourists felt sorry for spending a lot of their time with their smartphones while travelling with 64 percent admitted that they used their smartphones to check e-mails and 100 percent said they used the phones to link with the social media.

The survey also shows that Thai tourists regard smartphones as the Number One must have item while travelling followed by passports and insurance coverage and sunglasses. Razor blades rank the Number Ten item.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/thai-tourists-hooked-smartphones-travelling/


-- Thai PBS 2014-08-14

[clockman]

No hope for mankind!

[Bluespunk]

Why would they not use their phones while on holiday?

Edited August 13, 2014 by Bluespunk

[tifino]

...hooked on:

Kapook; Sanook; M-Thai; facebook, and of course - Youtube, which catches just about every thing else...

[crusader79]

The emptier the head...

[tifino]

wot?? - oh yeah "empty headed animal food trough wiper" (M P holy grail)

...same backward flicking action of the wrist over the touch-glass, as per the trough-enamel

Edited August 14, 2014 by tifino

[NongKhaiKid]

This is not confined to Thailand or tourists but is very prevalent everywhere.

Last month I was out for a meal with a friend and it was she who indicated I should look at an adjacent table where four girls were sitting, not a word being exchanged as all were heads down over their phones. Every so often they came up for air and food but each may well have been sitting alone for most of their time.

I think most of us would be somewhat annoyed if a so called dinner companion acted like that but for them no problem as they were all at it.

[Misterwhisper]

"Razor blades rank the Number Ten item."

I wonder what essential items come in at numbers 5 to 9.

Whitening cream, instant noodles, shrimp paste, protective amulets, and a hand gun?

[chainarong]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

This is not confined to Thailand or tourists but is very prevalent everywhere.

Last month I was out for a meal with a friend and it was she who indicated I should look at an adjacent table where four girls were sitting, not a word being exchanged as all were heads down over their phones. Every so often they came up for air and food but each may well have been sitting alone for most of their time.

I think most of us would be somewhat annoyed if a so called dinner companion acted like that but for them no problem as they were all at it.

Try walking the footpath (sidewalk) in H.K.

[chainarong]

Technology is fine in it's proper place, unfortunately no one knows the proper place , letting it become in charge and rule your life, you become addicted like a drug addict, the proper place is knowing where the off button is.

[Crazy chef 1]

because they need to post on Facebook what they had for their last meal and to check the lottery number prediction.

[Tatsujin]

This is not confined to Thailand or tourists but is very prevalent everywhere.

Last month I was out for a meal with a friend and it was she who indicated I should look at an adjacent table where four girls were sitting, not a word being exchanged as all were heads down over their phones. Every so often they came up for air and food but each may well have been sitting alone for most of their time.

I think most of us would be somewhat annoyed if a so called dinner companion acted like that but for them no problem as they were all at it.

I've also seen this on too many occasions to count . . . and on many of those occasions, the "group" that is sitting using the phone is actually chatting together on Line or something else. So, they all sit in silence, not looking at each other, but chatting through their phones . . . bizarre.

[NongKhaiKid]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

This is not confined to Thailand or tourists but is very prevalent everywhere.

Last month I was out for a meal with a friend and it was she who indicated I should look at an adjacent table where four girls were sitting, not a word being exchanged as all were heads down over their phones. Every so often they came up for air and food but each may well have been sitting alone for most of their time.

I think most of us would be somewhat annoyed if a so called dinner companion acted like that but for them no problem as they were all at it.

Try walking the footpath (sidewalk) in H.K.

I lived there for 20 years up to 1996, long before extreme gadgetry, and a simple walk could be like trying to force your way through a packed rugby defence..

A psychologist suggested that Asian people almost literally do not see you because they don't know you, you are not a relative, friend or colleague so you don't register.

[jacky54]

They use them in the cinema, while eating, first thing in the morning and last thing at night. On buses and BTS they are glued to them, books have become like kryptonite to Thais

[khwaibah]

Another brilliant media article . Why is the photo showing a tablet and not a smart phone. Daaaa.

[cardinalblue]

Where is reading material on the list? Wasn't Bangkok distinguished as the literary capital of the world last year?

Phone b/f passport? I guess not international travellers...

CB

[Pib]

I'm pretty sure smartphones are now issued upon birth....and the birth certificate has been updated to record both the birth and first SIM registration.

[Pii Kate]

while travelling, working (try to get the attention of a shop clerk) and don't forget (according to my teacher friends) school/classroom.

[Robby nz]

Not really something new and not only to do with the greasy fingerprint screen things.

I see people on buses who pull the window curtains as soon as they sit down and stared at the seat in front for the whole trip.

On a boat trip down the Mekong a young couple of tourists on a seat in front of me sat and read books the whole trip, never looked up once.

Recently on the train coming back from Kanchanaburi two tourists talked together all the way, never looking out the window.

These people might as well have stayed at home and saved their money for they never saw anything.

I suppose with the phone at least they can do selfies "This is me at.........." What was it like ? "Don't know I never looked I was too busy sending my photos to all my friends".

[jonclark]

How can smartphones be the number one most essential travel items?

I'm fairly sure if i rocked up at Swampy to fly back to the USA waving my smartphone at the immigration officer, whilst being passportless, my travels would be over fairly swiftly.

As an aside. I am sure that there is an inversely proportional function somewhere in the universe that states - The smarter the phone, the dumber the user.

[tifino]

can I say, JC, I think you have just put your finger on it

[BudRight]

In the naked light I saw, ten thousand people maybe more, people talking without speaking. People hearing without listening. People writing songs that voices never shared. And no one dared, disturb the sounds of silence.

-Simon and Garfunkel

Edited August 14, 2014 by BudRight

[belg]

in stead of enjoying the place they are in , they prefer to post some pictures of what they ate for breakfast, lunch, dinner and lets not forget some so important selfies

[lostmebike]

The survey also shows that Thai tourists regard smartphones as the Number One must have item while travelling followed by passports and insurance coverage and sunglasses. Razor blades rank the Number Ten item.

... with soap and toothpaste a lowly twentieth.

But seriously, wherever I am in Thailand, I see couples, groups of friends sat at various places, heads down, absorbed in their 'smart' technology and totally devoid of any conversation.

I hear its the same back home now .. sign of times I suppose.

[Alwyn]

wot?? - oh yeah "empty headed animal food trough wiper" (M P holy grail)

...same backward flicking action of the wrist over the touch-glass, as per the trough-enamel

I want a pint of what you've had!!

[BudRight]

I'd just like to remind everyone that a modern phone with internet is a mobile, personal window to all human knowledge. Who's to say Thais aren't brushing up on their Analytic Geometry while in New York or reading 'Oblomov' while visiting St. Petersburg?

It reflects a bit of prejudice to assume they are only used for trivial or vain purposes in the hands of Thais wherever they are.

[jacky54]

I'd just like to remind everyone that a modern phone with internet is a mobile, personal window to all human knowledge. Who's to say Thais aren't brushing up on their Analytic Geometry while in New York or reading 'Oblomov' while visiting St. Petersburg?

It reflects a bit of prejudice to assume they are only used for trivial or vain purposes in the hands of Thais wherever they are.

Thais reading Goncharov? that's funny, 1000x more likely to be cookie run, line or tetris, well at least that's from Russia.

[Chicog]

Maybe a good solution would be to drop a load of smartphones in Syria, Iraq and Gaza?

"I can't behead anyone at the moment, I'm checking Tinder".

Edited August 14, 2014 by Chicog

[Smurkster]

The survey also shows that Thai tourists regard smartphones as the Number One must have item while travelling followed by passports and insurance coverage and sunglasses. Razor blades rank the Number Ten item.

... with soap and toothpaste a lowly twentieth.

But seriously, wherever I am in Thailand, I see couples, groups of friends sat at various places, heads down, absorbed in their 'smart' technology and totally devoid of any conversation.

I hear its the same back home now .. sign of times I suppose.

I went back to the USA this summer first time in two years which isn't that long but can make a big difference in things like how users interact with technology. Then after I came back to Thailand, I immediately felt that the amount of youth/people/kids with their faces in their phones over here seemed to be far greater than back in the States...don't have any numbers to back this up, but I really felt that it was the Thais who took the cake when it comes to being more sucked in by the smartphone vortex!

[nottocus]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

This is not confined to Thailand or tourists but is very prevalent everywhere.

Last month I was out for a meal with a friend and it was she who indicated I should look at an adjacent table where four girls were sitting, not a word being exchanged as all were heads down over their phones. Every so often they came up for air and food but each may well have been sitting alone for most of their time.

I think most of us would be somewhat annoyed if a so called dinner companion acted like that but for them no problem as they were all at it.

Try walking the footpath (sidewalk) in H.K.

Just the other day I was walking down the street here in HK and saw some chick watching a movie on her phone. She was heading straight for me and I refused to move.

Needless to say, we collided and she dropped her phone.

I was all pumped up to give her a mouthful…instead she apologised.