Mobile Myanmar: The Impact of Social Media on Young People Living in Conflict-Affected Regions of Myanmar “I am not against your words, but I believe by sharing my feelings, it can help me relieve sometimes.” Male, 22 years, Kayah Buddhist, Htee Teh Kaloe & Daw Lyar Khu villages (Kayah State rural) “When I listen to a song, I copy the verses that represent my feeling and post them on my page.” Male, 22 years, Kayan Buddhist, Loikaw (Kayah State urban) There was a mixed response from participants regarding posting about politics. Rural participants reported that politics is mainly discussed outside of Facebook due to others using offensive commentary, the possibility of fake news, and the consequences that could follow: “I don’t dare to post news about politics because sometimes the news we read can be true or fake. We have to think about how people will think of us and the consequence before posting this kind of news... I don’t dare to express opinion on politics because I am worried how people will think of me and also the legal consequence.” Male, 19 years, Christian, Loikaw (Kayah State urban) “I read news about Ngar Min Swe, who used his real profile and attacked the Army with words. I read some of his posts and they are really good ones. Because of his posts, he was arrested and put into jail by the Army.” Male, 19 years, Christian, Loikaw (Kayah State urban) Impact on daily lives and psychological well-being The discussion about participants’ overall social media experience produced a mixed response in both rural and urban locations. A common response was that it depended on the person, for example, what they were using social media for and how long they had been using social media. “[New users] don’t know how to search pages that can be useful to them. They just listen to music, watch video and share what they see.” Male, 18-22 years, Loikaw (Kayah State urban) Others said that using social media could be both a positive and a negative experience. Positives included gaining knowledge from learning new things and acquiring skills, the ability to help people, reading news about society and raising political awareness, access to educational information leading to a possible scholarship, and connecting with and building relationships with existing and new family and friends. Negatives included that social media was a waste of money as it is sometimes not used for anything useful (e.g., costly to spend money on games), can impact health negatively (such as the physical issues of sore eyes using the device for too long and lack of sleep), lead to early marriage (due to the easy connections made on Facebook), and certain posts can negatively impact young vulnerable children. Most participants agreed that social media can have a negative impact on relationships and communication issues between friends and family, with some suggesting that more time devoted to relationships online than offline. “Using Facebook is affecting the relationship with each other, we can’t communicate anymore. Some young people are using Facebook just for fun and not for [anything] interesting or education.” Female, 19 years, Kayan Christian, Loikaw (Kayah State urban) 44