Homepage > Thai Youth Issues > Youths worship gadgets, claims survey

Date: 11th April 2000, Bangkok Post

TRENDS: Youths in Southeast Asia prize education, yet read less and enjoy time more with computers than with friends

Karnjariya Sukrung

The sight of teenagers toting mobile phones, sitting in front of a personal computer (PC) and tapping into the cyber world, or clicking away at their play stations, is more and more common these days, whether on television programmes, in the streets or right in your living room.

So it came as no surprise when the "Study of Youth in the Asia-Pacific Region, New Generasians 2000" survey-launched in a presentation to media and advertising people last week at the Discovery Centre-revealed that having a PC, surfing the Internet, and owning a mobile phone are some of the most important goals for Bangkok youth.

The survey, commissioned by Cartoon Network and sponsored by Optimum Media Direction, aims to track the likes and dislikes of today's youth. The sample group of the survey were children and teens aged from seven to 18, living in 29 cities across 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The study is the second of its kind following the one conducted in 1998.

In Thailand, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 400 youths found in shopping malls in Bangkok's central, between the middle of October and December 1999.

And here are some of the results.

Bangkok's youths seem to follow the global trend of young people's growing interest in high-technology communications gadgets and computers. Like their peers in other Asian countries, Thai teens rated using the computer as the most popular craze of their generation. These results are 10 times greater than those in the 1998 survey.

A quarter of youngsters live in houses with some kind of electronic media (free TV, satellite, cable, radio, or Internet connection). In addition, 26 percent of them mainly use the Internet for "chatting and information surfing". School is reported as the main place they access the Internet.

This may explain why the data suggests young people are spending less time reading magazines and newspapers.

Increasing demand for telecommunications devices was also recorded. Most say they would either like to have or already possess some kind of personal communications gadgets, such as mobile phones or PCTs.

Watching television remains the top leisure activity, and 89 percent of those interviewed say they turn it on practically every day. Channel 3 is their most favoured channel for entertainment. Despite watching ITV for much less time than other channels every day, interviewees said it is their most favoured news channel.

Radio is listed as the next most popular media to television. Hot Wave on 91.5 FM and the bilingual Radio No Problems on 88.0 FM received more votes than other stations.

Next most popular down from the radio are: playing sports, reading comics, playing video games and doing artistic pursuits. Considering the nature of activities listed, it appears many of them have fallen into the tendency of doing things on their own. Only 14 percent said they enjoy spending time with friends, which is a sharp drop from the 32 percent recorded in the 1998 survey.

Boys in Thailand are crazy about soccer, which is the number one activity in both categories of "the most popular sports to play" and/or "watch". Their favourite players are local striker Sicco (Kiattisak Senamueng), Manchester United's David Beckham and Liverpool's star Michael Owen.

Although girls' favourite sport is swimming, when it comes to watching sport on TV, they also share the same likes as boys. Sicco is also the most favourite sportsman for female respondents.

The last survey in 1998 carried out during the economic downturn showed most teens were very concerned about the economic crisis. But in this survey, only half of the respondents mentioned any anxiety about the economy. The proportion has dropped dramatically from 82 to 50 percent.

Despite the government's stress on how important personal savings are to maintaining a healthy economy, only 25 percent of youth said they have savings. About 75 percent of teens say they spend from half to all of their weekly pocket money, which ranges from 40 to 2,000 baht a week. In total, the average pocket money for a Bangkok youth is 200 baht a week, and a large chunk of that appears to be spent on play station games and fast food.

As a matter of fact, fast-food chain restaurants were found to be the most popular day-time hang-out spots for Bangkok teens as a high percentage of them said they visited fast food the day before the interview. Those aged between 13 and 18 are the most frequent visitors. KFC was voted the most favourite location, followed closely by McDonalds. And potato chips remain their favourite snack.

Parents might be happy to hear that despite their tendency to be extravagant, 47 percent of the "Thai New Generasians" consider education-school and university-the most important thing in their lives. This represents a 400 percent increase on results of the last survey.

Moreover learning rates as the most important goal. Apart from school, "having a happy family life" follows. "Being loved" is next, followed by "playing or watching sport" and then "having an active and healthy life". However health was not that important, with between two and four percent of respondents rating it as the most important goal in life.