MOBILE PHONES, INTERNET, AND GENDER IN MYANMAR MOBILE PHONES, INTERNET, AND GENDER IN MYANMAR “A friend of mine uses Facebook. He adds girls and starts talking to them.” HV Yangon, male non-owner, 29, working, SEC D/E “I could see all things I haven’t seen before on Facebook.” FGD rural, male non-owner, 18–29, working, SEC D/E Efforts are needed to improve digital skills and literacy to enable new users to experiment with the features on their phones and find new and valuable uses. Developing locally relevant content could also help to raise awareness. 5.3.3 Usage and awareness of brands/apps Among qualitative respondents who used data services, Facebook and Viber were the most popular. Many admitted that chatting and browsing Facebook had become an addiction, and most used Facebook daily. Facebook Even non-owners who were interviewed in the qualitative research had heard of Facebook from their community. They stated that they would use it if they had a mobile, although not everyone really knew what it was. Many consider Facebook the only entry point for information, and many regard postings as news. Before mobile phone penetration expanded in Myanmar, people in rural areas such as Pantanaw had limited access to news either via radio or TV, and the signal of the few state-run stations was poor. Word of mouth was the main source of information and it seems that reading (and believing) postings on Facebook replaces other information sources. Many were just reading whatever came up in their news feed, as they did not know how to post, search, add friends, or ‘like’ postings. 58 Mobile owners we spoke to in Yangon had more technical skills, so they understood that postings may not be news and could be used to spread rumours. Many of them tended to use Facebook to search for information and to read news from media houses like Eleven or Irrawaddy. The majority of qualitative respondents were interested in celebrities, crime news (in order to be aware of crime and be more cautious), fashion, and beauty. Men showed more interest in current affairs, national politics, and soccer results. Viber and other instant messenger apps Viber was popular among smartphone owners, especially younger ones, due to the lower costs. Those with friends or relatives living abroad and far away use it for voice calls. Unstable and slow internet connections limit use, however, so regular voice calls were not replaced entirely. Chat applications seemed to be a way to ‘meet’ new people online and start up conversations, and later friendships, with the opposite sex. Some perceived this as positive and some as negative, mainly because this could be done ‘under the radar’, away from parental/ elders’ control/sight. Offline, these kinds of interactions would be frowned upon. Some women have stopped using Viber since male strangers approached them. Most mobile non-owners had heard of Viber and knew that it could be used to talk with ‘far-away’ people. Other mentioned instant messenger apps BeeTalk, WeChat, and Line. Of these, BeeTalk seemed more popular, although it was not as widely used as Viber. BeeTalk is available in Burmese. “Even my younger brother is not using it anymore. From Viber you end up flirting with people, fall in love, and strangers can approach you. In a group I was interrupted by strangers whilst talking to others. They disturbed me. I want to have a clear conscious.” FGD rural, female owner, 18–29, working SEC C/D “I was added to too many groups and couldn’t control it anymore. I don’t use Viber anymore.” FGD Yangon, female owner, 18–29, working, SEC B/C “Viber can be slow when the Internet connection is not good.” FGD Yangon, male owner, 30–45, working, SEC B/C “With Viber you can talk for cheap.” FGD Yangon, female non-owner, 18–29, nonworking, SEC C/D There were a few mobile owners in the qualitative research who were not on Facebook because they did not know how to install it, had no one to help them, or did not want to spend the money to have it installed at a phone shop. 59