SURVEY: What effect does social media have on Thai Society?

[Scott]

In the past few years there have been some high profile reports concerning people using Social Media and the government cracking down on users. Social media makes it much more difficult for the government to control the information that gets to the public, whether it is true or false. In your opinion, what affect does social media have on Thai society and culture?

Please feel free to leave a comment.

[JohnnyJazz]

Because they are decentralized by nature, it makes social media control much more difficult which is a good thing for democracy. In countries where "influential" people were able to get away from their responsibilities, social media by exposing their wrong doing to the society at large makes cover up more difficult.

[Credo]

That Thailand has had draconian rules about censorship and individuals have been targeted and faced heavy penalties and jail time for expressing an opinion. This has extended to people who even post a 'like' on some remarks.

Journalists have been very reticent to ask anything that could be considered a probing question or digging deeper into most subjects. They have been even slower in following up on many major problems.

Social media gives citizens a voice and it allows them to give an opinion without consulting and getting a consensus of those to whom they should defer.

The effect will be profound and the gov't effort to whack a mole isn't going to work.

it's not only changing the dissemination of information, it will change the culture. People no longer have to bow to those in power.

In other countries social media adds speed. In Thailand, it adds an entirely new dimension.

[GuestHouse]

I think its far too early to tell, other than to observe the authorities are trying to play catch-up to something they have no hope of controlling, so the resort to using threats of prosecution to instill fear and 'self censorship'.

The problem they face is, the cat is out of the bag, and much of the really 'explosive' discourse on Thai social media is happening out of reach of the censors.

The law can and does comedown hard on transgressions of lines drawn on what must not be said, but social media is spreading something far more dangerous to government control - information, different points of view, different ways of living, aspiration and questions.

You can't kill ideas.

[NanLaew]

"Affect" as in influence?

I think it will be a few years before sharing pictures of food is supplanted by any use that will have a real social impact.

Unless someone passes away suddenly. Then all bets are off.

[awayego]

You might want to fix that typo. "The affect is more pronounced that it is in other countries" (than)

And not just the one typo/grammatical error.

"Affect" is a verb but it was used as the noun "Effect".

Should have been "The effect is more pronounced than it is in other countries".

As should have been the original question - "What effect does social media . . . . . . ."

Yes, yes, I know, the grammar police again!

Only because one error was picked up but not the other!

Back on topic though, the 'social media' could be beneficial in countering government propaganda.

Of course that's why the govt wants to control it.

Edited June 12, 2016 by awayego

[kannot]

they spend all day with their heads in it...............how sad is that!

[hawker9000]

Really two separate questions I think. One is: What effect does social media activity by Thais themselves possibly have on Thai society. The other is: What effect does social media activity by foreigners have on Thai society. I think Thais are more or less indoctrinated to ignore what the outside world thinks & says about them, but are more concerned with what other Thais are thinking and saying (to the degree current policies allow them much real discussion).

[isanbirder]

Frankly, how would we know what effect it has on Thai society?

And, please, it's effect, not affect.

Edited June 12, 2016 by isanbirder

[NoshowJones]

Going by your last sentence, the majority of Thais don't have the common sense for the social media to have any effect.

As I have said before, if the majority of the Thai population had even average intelligence, this would be a really great country.

I am not a Thai basher, the good far outweighs the bad in Thailand, but I just tell it the way I see it.

Edited June 12, 2016 by possum1931

[shaggy851]

A bit off point but i find that being only just available and popular to thais more recently than most other countries it is new and exciting rather than something that other people can live without. Social media has taken off in thailand with the availability and affordability of smartphones and unfortunately it tends to dominates their lives.

They dont fully understand how to use it yet in a positive way

[Crossy]

OK guys, enough. English in the topic title and poll headers fixed.

[jadee]

My opinion, based on knowing my wife who is Thai and uses Facebook and LINE, is that social media has a negative effect on Thais to a greater extent than westerners. Firstly, it promotes jealously but this has been widely researched in the US and affects westerners (and the rest of the world) the same. The difference, I believe, is the damage that misleading commercials or false information can have. Unless Thais have native English proficiency (which my wife certainly doesn't) they find it hard to validate a source. They misinterpret satire or take as gospel articles, sites or sources that westerners would instantly know to dismiss or ignore. Only Thais who have had a western education or who have grown up abroad won't have this problem. That is, I think, where the damage is potentially done.

[GuestHouse]

My opinion, based on knowing my wife who is Thai and uses Facebook and LINE, is that social media has a negative effect on Thais to a greater extent than westerners. Firstly, it promotes jealously but this has been widely researched in the US and affects westerners (and the rest of the world) the same. The difference, I believe, is the damage that misleading commercials or false information can have. Unless Thais have native English proficiency (which my wife certainly doesn't) they find it hard to validate a source. They misinterpret satire or take as gospel articles, sites or sources that westerners would instantly know to dismiss or ignore. Only Thais who have had a western education or who have grown up abroad won't have this problem. That is, I think, where the damage is potentially done.

Guess what.... ?!

There is a whole spectrum of online discourse underway in the Thai language.

This is hiding in plain sight but not accessible to foreigners who don't read Thai.. so many go right ahead and assume it's not happing, or as we see above, comment on that which they do understand 'photos and videos posted online'.

[facthailand]

I think we need to clarify what the questioon and choice of answers really means. Social media can draw together a cohesive group whether for pub-crawling or political protest.

However, govt is targeting social media, Wastebook, Twaddle, SLIME, etc. Anybody who uses any of these without benefit of a VPN is just asking for trouble!

[MadMuhummad]

they spend all day with their heads in it...............how sad is that!

No different than any other country with access to smart devices. In my country in a major metropolitan city I've lost count of how many people I've seen walk into doors, ladders, onto the road and in front of trams, bicycles and others walking than it really is mind boggling.

Asia in general seems to have a massive love affair with online social media, China, Phillipines, Korea, Japan, Thailand etc.

Not to forget the effect it has had on gen Y in the western world. The amount of hours lost per person would be seriously scary.

[chrisinth]

IMO social media in Thailand is about par for most other countries.

What is having an effect on Thai society and culture is the attempts to control and censure it by the authorities. This is where the problem becomes Thailand related only; a different path from your China's, N. Korea's, Myanmar's, etc.

[hawker9000]

My opinion, based on knowing my wife who is Thai and uses Facebook and LINE, is that social media has a negative effect on Thais to a greater extent than westerners. Firstly, it promotes jealously but this has been widely researched in the US and affects westerners (and the rest of the world) the same. The difference, I believe, is the damage that misleading commercials or false information can have. Unless Thais have native English proficiency (which my wife certainly doesn't) they find it hard to validate a source. They misinterpret satire or take as gospel articles, sites or sources that westerners would instantly know to dismiss or ignore. Only Thais who have had a western education or who have grown up abroad won't have this problem. That is, I think, where the damage is potentially done.

Guess what.... ?!

There is a whole spectrum of online discourse underway in the Thai language.

This is hiding in plain sight but not accessible to foreigners who don't read Thai.. so many go right ahead and assume it's not happing, or as we see above, comment on that which they do understand 'photos and videos posted online'.

Duh. Well gosh. Really? Who'd have ever guessed... No one can doubt this. That's actually the whole point. Instead of any discourse with the outside world, they carry on in their own little xenophobically-enhanced online enclaves, with a relative few aware of, or concerned with, what's being shared in the global commons. 'Don't really see how that can possibly be a positive thing for Thai "society".

[GuestHouse]

Duh. Well gosh. Really? Who'd have ever guessed... No one can doubt this. That's actually the whole point. Instead of any discourse with the outside world, they carry on in their own little xenophobically-enhanced online enclaves, with a relative few aware of, or concerned with, what's being shared in the global commons. 'Don't really see how that can possibly be a positive thing for Thai "society".

Because what?

The only meanigful discourse that can take place must be in English?

Or because no Thai person could ever pick up ideas from anywhere and express them/ share them in the Thai language?

Or because you personally are unaware of the political and social discourse Thai people are taking part in?

Or is it simply that you are a bigot?

[freebyrd]

Having once lived in TL, I visit once or twice a year now. From the delightful days of the 80's and 90's, although even then it was far from perfect, it has seemingly become a country of youthful zombies, permanently attached to a media device and to a certain extent brainwashed - see my aside at the end of my post.

Back in the day everyone seemed happy, people of all ages. Smiles were in abundance and being materilaistic hadn't taken hold. Walking down Sukhumvit now is like a human version of bumper cars. Youngsters, mostly females it seems, are glued to their phones and don't look where they are going. How long before pavement traffic lights al la Augsburg in Germany start to appear?

All that said, if we older types had been born part of this generation, would we be any different? Probably not.

As an aside, here's a line from an email from a mate of mine who livies in pronvicial Thailand, long time resident, married to a Thai and has a couple of kids:

"I'd been looking forward to a night out on the last night in BKK, but this was stymied when I got invited out to dinner with the trainees. Cue four hours of awkward conversation about why Thailand is so special and wonderful and why the rest of the world must learn from its unique culture!"

[wabothai]

Time spent on the social media is time lost for work.

[hawker9000]

Duh. Well gosh. Really? Who'd have ever guessed... No one can doubt this. That's actually the whole point. Instead of any discourse with the outside world, they carry on in their own little xenophobically-enhanced online enclaves, with a relative few aware of, or concerned with, what's being shared in the global commons. 'Don't really see how that can possibly be a positive thing for Thai "society".

Because what?

The only meanigful discourse that can take place must be in English?

Or because no Thai person could ever pick up ideas from anywhere and express them/ share them in the Thai language?

Or because you personally are unaware of the political and social discourse Thai people are taking part in?

Or is it simply that you are a bigot?

Oh well, now we have to resort to name-calling do we? Such a powerful argument!

[Blackheart]

Social media has offered an amazing platform for all Thai people to photograph everything they eat and share it with the world.

Life changing.

[JohnnyJazz]

Duh. Well gosh. Really? Who'd have ever guessed... No one can doubt this. That's actually the whole point. Instead of any discourse with the outside world, they carry on in their own little xenophobically-enhanced online enclaves, with a relative few aware of, or concerned with, what's being shared in the global commons. 'Don't really see how that can possibly be a positive thing for Thai "society".

Because what?

The only meanigful discourse that can take place must be in English?

He actually means Chinese. Everything that matters in Asia, and soon in the world, happens in Chinese first.

Edited June 14, 2016 by JohnnyJazz

[Broken Record]

they spend all day with their heads in it...............how sad is that!

Says the man with 6,475 posts on an anonymous Internet forum.

[Siamwhiteelephant]

I think the survey would be more meaningful having at least another question concerning whether social media is bringing any overall positive change to the culture or not.

[spidermike007]

I have never been to another country that is more hooked on Facebook, than Thailand. It is beyond an obsession. I have seen women spend hours and hours a day liking other people's posts. That cannot be healthy for society. I have friends in the US that post on Facebook. Some are very trivial, and some are quite substantial. I tend to block the friends who post trivial stuff, as it means nothing to anyone, but the person who is posting. I never post. It is of no interest to me. But, I occasionally like to see what some of my friends and family are up to, and it allows for that.

I consider Facebook to be a fame platform. For people who want to be famous, but cannot be famous, it is a way of letting the world know about them, and their exploits.

But, the obsession with which many Thai women I know use the platform, along with LINE, is bordering on obscene, and I do not think it bodes well for the future of the nation.