Are the machines destroying Thai culture?

[GordonP]

Yes, yes yes. I have noticed this a lot in my gf's village. When I first visited only 5 years ago, many children were looked after by their grandparents while the parents worked away in Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya or wherever. In the evening there were queues to use the public telephones on the main road and in the main the children (especially the girls) learned to cook and clean and had daily chores. In addition the village was alive with children playing and enjoying themselves.

Just one year later ToT were removing the public phones and the children were in possession of hand-me down mobile telephones. Four years on, the grandmothers are moaning that the children do not help anymore, chores are neglected and spend most of their time alone with the cursed telephones which are more sophisticated hand me downs. The village is much quieter and the community spirit is slowly but surely evaporating away.

The other worrying side to this, is that the grandparents have no idea what the kids are doing on their phones. They do not have the technical knowledge to bar or block access. The Western world is still coming to grips with online grooming and IMHO many young Thais are equally or more so at risk than their Western counterparts.

Times they are a changing and in this respect not for the better. (IMHO)

[pgrahmm]

Yes, yes yes. I have noticed this a lot in my gf's village. When I first visited only 5 years ago, many children were looked after by their grandparents while the parents worked away in Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya or wherever. In the evening there were queues to use the public telephones on the main road and in the main the children (especially the girls) learned to cook and clean and had daily chores. In addition the village was alive with children playing and enjoying themselves.

Just one year later ToT were removing the public phones and the children were in possession of hand-me down mobile telephones. Four years on, the grandmothers are moaning that the children do not help anymore, chores are neglected and spend most of their time alone with the cursed telephones which are more sophisticated hand me downs. The village is much quieter and the community spirit is slowly but surely evaporating away.

The other worrying side to this, is that the grandparents have no idea what the kids are doing on their phones. They do not have the technical knowledge to bar or block access. The Western world is still coming to grips with online grooming and IMHO many young Thais are equally or more so at risk than their Western counterparts.

Times they are a changing and in this respect not for the better. (IMHO)

I "liked" - but going to give this one a replay........

[ggt]

The machines negate the need for face to face...human contact...one can create an imaginary world thru social media and be happy with limited human involvement...who knows what the future of the human race will become...maybe the machines will no longer need us...

[sustento]

On the other hand you can make contact with someone on the other side of the world in seconds rather than waiting weeks for a reply to a letter...

[pgrahmm]

As simple as television......Canada - due to topography was one of the last "modern" counties to get cable TV......they did a study there between mountain ranges based on a creative thinking/problem solving index.....I believe 3 mountain ranges blocked cable expansion - they measured the place that already had TV versus the most remote areas without TV....what they found was that as cable TV advanced the problem solving skills/creative thinking skills diminished by YEARS stunting the problem solving growth/acuity of the school grade children - where before it was high - now = very little.....instead of using and cultivating their God given talents they now depended on a medium for entertainment and answers....lessons and creative skills went away......more rapidly the quicker TV paved the way.....

Now - with our Dick Tracy cell phones our problem solving skills have all dissappeared - after all - why look for/research the answer when someone else already offers pre-programmed results - the world knows more than Mama/Papa/Grandma/Grandpa why should I listen to them - what do they know?????

The populace is being controlled folks...there's a reason home schooled kids constantly out perform their peers - it's because they are conditioned to "think" for themselves.....

It worries me.....

[Mudcrab]

How can you claim that this is specific to Thailand?? This is a global development and an attribute of modern society..Take off your tinted imperialistic sunglasses!!

And put on your Google glasses!!

Obey, obey, obey.

George O would be so proud

[pgrahmm]

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

How can you claim that this is specific to Thailand?? This is a global development and an attribute of modern society..Take off your tinted imperialistic sunglasses!!

And put on your Google glasses!!

Obey, obey, obey.

George O would be so proud

Not sure of proud as it does not "fit" - but he would understand and exemplify

[Gandtee]

They said the same about TV decades ago.

I think children who grow up with this technology won't find it that amazing and are way more resistant to it.

Maybe they will grow so fat because of inertia that they will be only too happy to have their electronic aids to inter act instead of having to make the effort to actually meet people.

[eeeya]

I was in a farang pub on sukhumvit (robin hood) and wow ever the fanangoulies were playing with their phones. I looked around and there was no interaction between each other just playing with their phone and drinking their beer.

...and then I went back looking at my own phone and drinking my own beer.

[thai20144]

Proof that Zombies really do exist.....

baaa something very sheepish about this.

[dotpoom]

Don't get me started ....Machines, particularly mobile phones are the beginning of the end of ALL cultures. Only this very day while sitting in the food court at Tesco Lotus with my wife I was mimicking the actions of the modern day person about to sit down at a table. It is like a scene out of the "Wild West" you know the one where the good guy swings around to shoot at the bad guy when he hears a gun being cocked behind him....while he is swinging around, half stooped, he is drawing his gun from his holster at the same time. It's all done in the one motion and he shoots and kills the bad guy. Well, when a person (more so the ladies) is about to position themselves at a table today to eat....in one singular motion they start to lower themselves into the chair while at the same time withdrawing their phone (just like the gun from the holster) from its holding position and when they are fully seated and erect, as if by magic, the phone ends up in perfect position right in front of their eyes, held up by an equally perfectly positioned elbow at the exact angle for perfect viewing. I can see that this can only be the result of many hours of practice ....it's all done so smoothly like a well oiled machine....it would make the gunslinger of old turn in his grave with jealousy.

[pchansmorn]

The Thai's are brainwashed by cell phones, completely addicted to them, young and old, it's sad. Kids don't play outside anymore, adults cannot be without there phone even while they are eating dinner, attached to the phone 24/7. This is life in Thailand. I don't own one, I leave my Mac & IPad at home. So silly to watch these people behave like this.

[timewilltell]

I think this is happening around the world and not as such a Thai phenomenon. However Thais are in love with themselves so phones support their vanity. The sad thing is that it destroys conversation as much as they can improve knowledge they destroy personal interaction to the degree that people meet for dinner and just don't bother to talk being entirely absorbed by taking pictures of the food and themselves. That aspect is definitely more Thaicentric.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

[brianp0803]

I was surprised when I was having breakfast and a lady and her son sat close to me.

The kid never stopped playing his game. He could not put down his game to eat breakfast.

The mother was putting food into her son's mouth because he could not take his hands off the game.

His eyes never left the game.

When the mother got distracted talking and the kids mouth was empty, instead of getting his own food, he grunted to get the mother's attention and she continued feeding him and he continued playing the game.

I saw the same mother and son a couple times - same scenario.

Made me laugh a little - but also sad for his teachers at school

I understand addiction to games, but does someone need to put food into our mouth because we can not be bothered stopping our game long enough to eat.

I wonder what happens when this kid goes to school?

[Aceicol]

The populace is being controlled folks...there's a reason home schooled kids constantly out perform their peers - it's because they are conditioned to "think" for themselves.....

It worries me.....

It's probably more to do with the fact there are likely 1 person teaching to 2 or 3 kids rather than one to 30.

[Aceicol]

Kids in Thailand are no different to kids in England whatever people have told you. Kids love gaming, interacting over the internet etc, the only people who look down on them are their Luddite parents, or posters on this board it would seem.

Their culture is evolving, the same way that mine did when I was a kid, and yours did when you were a kid. Every generation thinks their one had the most fun, best upbringing, best way of life etc. Culture evolves and if that is with machines who cares, they'll always be there so embrace them rather than fight them.

[BillyBobThai]

Narcissism is the pursuit of gratification from vanity, or egotistic admiration of one's own attributes, that derive from arrogant pride. The term originated from the Greek mythology, where the young Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism

[SoiBiker]

People use modern technology all over the world. And old farts complain about it all over the world.

[Greg Nixon]

That is often the case world wide. My son has a good rule for his children. Only 1 hour of screen time/day. That includes TV, computers, telephone etc. He bikes and skis with them and their mother. You can sit down with these children and have a conversation. They also have a trampoline and go water skiing at a cottage. They easily play at any playground because so few other children are there.

[brianp0803]

People use modern technology all over the world. And old farts complain about it all over the world.

I am amazed that students prefer to take a picture of their textbook on their phone and then 2 students share the phone and move the image around to complete their work.

They had the text book but preferred using the picture of the text book assignment on their phone instead of the book.

They were getting the work done but not the method I would choose.

I am getting old. Culture is changing.

[shadmo63]

Did it ever occur to you old codgers that the people using their 'machines' are actually communicating 100 times faster and a 100 times more than when you was a lad. Some of you old codgers on here really need to move with the times. The average 8 year old has absorbed and processed more information than their grandparents did in their entire life. If you want to stay in the dark ages with your &lt;deleted&gt; boring anecdotes and 'real' communication - be my guest!!

[SoiBiker]

The same type of people probably complained about everybody reading books one upon a time.

[brianp0803]

I think my parents said watching too much tv will rot my brain.

I think I am ok but I do believe reading a book is better for me.

Each generation believes the current generation is doing terrible things.

I know my generation was the best. Lol

[wow64]

Sorry grandad times are changing

[palaver]

It will all work out. Some of us have been online for 30 years and we are not exactly suffering.

It's good people are talking and communicating more and reading. It's amazing.

[sirineou]

They said the same thing when Gutenberg started printing those damned books...

actually I believe it all went downhill when all these Greek kids started spending all this time writing philosophy on these damn marble Ipads, Instead of pilfering and pillaging as real men should.

Sad... very sad

[daveAustin]

What culture? It is Thai culture. Bumbling about in fields and idle gossip about nothing has simply been replaced by god awful TV to be replaced by more interesting smartphone apps. I think it's a big step up from the former for them.

[JSixpack]

How can you claim that this is specific to Thailand?? This is a global development and an attribute of modern society..Take off your tinted imperialistic sunglasses!!

[chrisinth]

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

They said the same about TV decades ago.

I think children who grow up with this technology won't find it that amazing and are way more resistant to it.

Hmmmmm. I didn't walk around all day with a tv stuck in my face the way they have their face in a stupidphone nowadays ( and I was addicted ).

Therein is part of the problem. Today you can walk about with a "TV" stuck in your face, tablets, smart phones, wrist watches even...............

If you were addicted then, and today's technology was available then, you would have been using that technology, feeding the addiction.

It isn't an Asian problem, its global.

I'm looking for a small get-away place somewhere in southeast Tanzania at the moment. Just for the kids...................

[thaibeachlovers]

"it is full of boys and a few girls all spending hours gaming instead of getting out and about with their friends like we did in our youith before the invasion of the machines."

"YOUR YOUTH". Sorry grandpa but the world has changed, get used to it or stay in your closet.

People share information faster and with more people than you could have ever dreamed of as a child. People cannot BS anymore because 99.9 percent of all information can be accessed day or night.

Hate to break it to you but it is the world that we live in not just Thailand.

But you go ahead and live in your glory years when everyone was smarter, more polite and better at everything. PS I bet you weren't studying Calculus at age 15 like kids today or making mobile apps that net you millions of dollars before you can drive a car.

So you are saying it is healthy to spend every possible moment with your face in a machine. I disagree, but I came on here to find out if others agree or not.

I'm not saying that <everyone was smarter, more polite and better at everything> when I was young, but when we were in a group we talked to each other.

<People cannot BS anymore because 99.9 percent of all information can be accessed day or night.>

99.9 % of the info on the web is BS. Who cares what some nonentity so called celebrity thinks about politics or any of the other garbage that gets posted on the internet?

Edited September 6, 2014 by thaibeachlovers