The use of social media spaces by Thai teenagers and parents in the digital era

Abstract

This Academic article presents Knowledge form the Co-Loving Space project, a research initiative financially supported by the Thai Media Fund to create awareness and understanding of the rights and freedoms of adolescents and families on social media. The objective of this article is to disseminate knowledge on the use of social media spaces among Thai adolescents and their families in the digital age. As social media increasingly plays a role in the relationships of family members in Thai society, the age gap, social media growth, media literacy, and social changes can cause conflicts in both the personal and shared social media spaces of Thai family members.

The social media usage patterns of adolescents and their parents in Thai families could be classified into seven groups: 1) normal shared use, 2) normal shared use with adolescents’ screening system, 3) shared use under permission, 4) shared use under agreement, 5) shared use as a parallel of original platforms, 6) shared use as a secondary platform, and 7) no shared use.

The use of social media spaces among Thai families was found to be consistent with the relationship basis and strength of family members. However, mutual understanding and empathic communication are basically required to minimize conflicts, address problems, and maintain healthy family relationships.