MOBILE PHONES, INTERNET, AND GENDER IN MYANMAR “With the internet you can send pictures with a message.” FGD rural, female owner, 18–29, working, SEC C/D “We have all heard of ‘internet’ but don’t know what it is. It is installed in the phone. You can see the other side’s face when you call. You can make friends – boyfriend and girlfriend.” FGD rural, female non-owner, 46–65, non-working, SEC D/E “You use it to connect with others, send pictures, make friends and fall in love” ... “It is good for business, good to gain knowledge” ... “I don’t know what you can do”. FGD rural, female non-owner, 18–29, working, SEC D/E “I don’t know what the internet is. Others use it to talk with friends.” MOBILE PHONES, INTERNET, AND GENDER IN MYANMAR Facebook predominantly shaped respondents’ understanding of the internet, followed by instant messenger apps. However, Facebook and Viber have the potential to taint the overall ‘reputation’ of the internet because some respondents do not want to encounter ‘inappropriate’ content and ‘false news’ (see below). Many non-owners interviewed in Pantanaw, especially older women (30+), had no internet experience at all. They had never seen ‘the internet’; they had only heard others talking about it. Smartphone owners in Yangon have a broader/richer understanding and internet usage patterns. For them, the internet is not just a place to make friends and chat, but also to search for information. Most rural respondents, even mobile owners, were not familiar with typical English ‘mobile and internet’ terms (e.g. browser). Many had not heard of mobile apps or admitted they did not understand what they were. Qualitative respondents in Pantanaw (rural) call apps ‘buttons’ that one needs to press to enter Facebook or Viber. Many had memorised the look of those ‘buttons’ that others had shown or explained to them, but they did not know what they actually meant since they are in English. Most respondents had not installed apps on their phones themselves. They were either pre-installed or installed via Zapya (a file-sharing app) with the help of relatives who had more phone experience. Nearly all smartphone owners had plenty of apps installed they had never used, and did not even know what they were. Some ‘curious’ respondents clicked on them only to find out that they were in English or Chinese, so they did not explore them further.48 Since most of their limited experience/ knowledge of the internet was based on either seeing others use it or hearsay (especially negative stories of social media; see Section 5.3.3), many believe the internet to be largely for entertainment and socialising. HV rural, female non-owner, 21, working, SEC D/E “Younger people have internet, they upload pictures and talk to friends. I had a look when somebody used it.” HV rural, female non-owner, 35, working, SEC D/E “It is a place to make new friends, meet people, and search for information.” FGD Yangon, female owner, 18–29, working, SEC B/C “It is good for getting knowledge, you can search for anything. You search on Facebook or Google.” “I heard people saying ‘the person is on the line with distant relatives.” FGD rural, female non-owner, 30–45, non-working, SEC D/E “I don’t know what a smartphone is. I haven’t seen one yet. I heard that it is technologically advanced and expensive.” FGD rural, female non-owner, 18–29, working, SEC D/E “I don’t know how to delete and un-install things. Someone would need to explain and demonstrate to me.” FGD Yangon, female owner, 30–45, non-working, SEC B/C FGD Yangon, female owner, 30–45, non-working, SEC B/C “Even you stay at home, you know everything.” VS. “I don’t know; nobody in my community uses it.” FGD Yangon, female non-owner, 18–29, non-working, SEC C/D 48. Respondents were not actually asked why they do not delete those unused apps, but it is possible they may not know how to do so and would not understand the correlation with data usage. 56 57