Mobile Myanmar: The Impact of Social Media on Young People Living in Conflict-Affected Regions of Myanmar result, it was suggested by one Muslim IDP adult that their young people now use less public WeChat or IMO groups to discuss such issues. “Some people are courageous to use their real account and criticize the government. As they use their true profile, it is easy for the government to find out about that. There was a time that police came to threaten people here because of what they posted online. Some elderly from our community were called by police. The police showed them a post from Facebook and asked them who posted this. The elders said they didn’t know and told the police it couldn’t be someone from this camp. After the police search, the young people who posted the information was warned by the elderly not to do that again. After that they didn’t dare to post anything like that again…Young people will now share the news information through WeChat and IMO.” Male, 29 years, Rohingya Muslim, Basara (Rakhine State IDP) “The young people here don’t use Facebook to form groups. They mainly use WeChat and IMO. They don’t have big mobilization activities. Unlike the other sides, Rakhine young people, who use social media for mobilization and propagating. Our young people here they use social media more for entertainment, like gathering people for soccer games. Also, when an accident happened in the camp, like the case of a young person who was shot dead by the police, young people will share the news information through WeChat and IMO. But for sure, they don’t use social media for criticizing the government, and for causing religious and inter-communal conflict. They are not interested in these things as they don’t want to experience more losses.” Male, 29 years, Rohingya Muslim, Basara (Rakhine State IDP) However, this view was not shared by the Muslim IDP young people interviewed. “No, they share what they want to share without considering the consequences.” Female, 22 years, Rohingya Muslim, Basara (Rakhine State IDP) “I’m not worried about the offline consequences when I post things related to government or politics. I don’t post one-sided words, I say only the truth, so I do not fear anything.” Female, 18 years, Kaman Muslim, Basara (Rakhine State IDP) Impact on daily lives and psychological well-being When asked if social media has a positive or negative overall impact on young people’s daily lives and/or psychological well-being, responses were evenly split between ‘mostly positive’, ‘mostly negative’ and ‘both’ across all demographics. The most common positive impacts of social media on young people’s daily lives were the ability to connect with friends and relatives across distance, keep up to date with news and current affairs (particularly related to events outside their region), and further their education by learning English and other skills to benefit their careers and employability. A couple of respondents also mentioned that using social media has taught young people the ability to identify and investigate fake news. “If they can use it in good ways, there is benefit. I feel grateful that I can read news from other regions while I live in Kayah State.” Male, 24 years, Kayah Christian, Kyun Taw village (Kayah State rural) “We can learn English from online as we don’t have a practical field. We can download English dictionary software. We can learn about how to do business and other skills online [to get] job opportunities.” Male, 20 years, Kayan Christian, Loikaw (Kayah State urban) 74