Mobile Myanmar: The Impact of Social Media on Young People Living in Conflict-Affected Regions of Myanmar “It also has impacts on family relationships. They ignore their family and waste time on YouTube.” Male, 34 years, Kayan Christian, Loikaw (Kayah State urban) “Friends talk less to each other when meet as they are busy with their own phone. Also, in the family, they don’t eat together anymore as the children want to use phone.” Female, 22 years, Rohingya Muslim, Basara (Rakhine State IDP) Some young people were very self-aware of the trade-off that being able to communicate across distances via social media had on their close relationships. The cost associated with using phones was identified as a cause of conflict within some families. “It can have both positive and negative impact. Using phones creates a distance with people who are near us but makes us become closer with those who are far from us.” Female, 19 years, Chin Christian, Sittwe (Rakhine State urban) “By using Facebook, I was not able to give time for my friends around my house, although I could keep the relationship with the friends from distant locations. But relationships with family can also deteriorate – my mother does not like me when I am using too much Facebook because it consumes a lot of bills.” Male, 20 years, Rakhine Buddhist, Sittwe (Rakhine State urban) “It can cause financial problems and conflict in families, as children don’t listen to their parents anymore and respond to their parents with a short-temper. The siblings ask for money from their parents for using the internet and if one gets it and the other doesn’t, they will fight with each other.” Male, 20 years, Kayan Christian, Loikaw (Kayah State urban) Despite there not being consensus on whether social media is has had an overall positive or negative influence on their daily lives, most young people did agree that social media had made their lives easier. Reasons given for this mostly focused on the education and employment opportunities that social media and the internet more broadly provided them. “It makes their lives easier because they can search any information. For example, they can search information about universities around the world and can apply through online.” Female, 19 years, Chin Christian, Sittwe (Rakhine State urban) “It makes lives easier because now when we want to apply for job, we can just send our CV and application form through email.” Female, 22 years, Rakhine Buddhist, Sittwe (Rakhine State urban) “When I passed 10th standard at 2010, I did not know how to speak English, although I tried to attend in the class, they do not accept the Muslim community in town. So I have learned myself how to speak and communicate with English from online as well as from social media, now I can communicate fluently with the foreigners as well.” Male, 29 years, Rohingya Muslim, Basara (Rakhine State IDP) Other reasons included better access to news and entertainment, and broader exposure to fashion and pop-culture. 78