Mobile Myanmar: The Impact of Social Media on Young People Living in Conflict-Affected Regions of Myanmar
Impacts of social media
Overall, most respondents thought that social media has both a positive and negative impact on their lives (66.7%).
Thirty-one percent thought that it has a mostly positive impact on their lives, and only 2.3% though it had a mostly
negative impact. Figure 8 shows responses by sub-sample. IDP respondents were much more likely to think that social
media has a mostly positive impact on their lives (53.3% compared to only 17.4% of Kayah State and 29.7% of Rakhine
urban respondents).
Figure 8: Impact of social media on own life
90%
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70%
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30%
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10%
0%
Kayah Urban
Kayah Rural
Rakhine Urban
Muslim IDP
Mostly negative
Both positive and negative
Mostly positive
Most respondents thought that social media has both a positive and negative impact on Myanmar society (72.2%), with
22.7% thinking it has a mostly positive impact, and only 4.7% though it has a mostly negative impact. Location and state
differentials were similar to the previous question (see Figure 9), with IDP respondents more likely to think that social
media has a positive impact on Myanmar society (41.7% compared to only 10.9% of Kayah State and 21.9% of Rakhine
urban respondents).
Figure 9: Impact of social media on Myanmar
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70%
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40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Kayah Urban
Kayah Rural
Rakhine Urban
Muslim IDP
Mostly negative
Both positive and negative
Mostly positive
When asked how issues happening on Facebook could be addressed, the most common responses overall were to
have online campaigns or awareness raising (59.7%) and digital/media literacy training/workshops (46.3%). As per
previous ‘select all that apply’ questions, females and the Kayah State sample were more likely to select one or none,
leading to higher rates for males and the Rakhine State sample for all suggested choices, with the exception of
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