Mobile Myanmar: The Impact of Social Media on Young People Living in Conflict-Affected Regions of Myanmar However, some Muslim IDP respondents said that contact with the world outside of their camp on social media made their young people upset. “Yes, both positive and negative. The young people nowadays do not know about freedom of movement, so when they see someone their age is free to go anywhere, they want to be free to do anything they want, but our young people are not able to because of the current conflict, so they get very upset. We are also human after all.” Male, 46 years, Rohingya Muslim, Basara (Rakhine State IDP) “For me, more negative. Some [posts make me] sad, stressed and angry.” Male, 24 years, Rohingya Muslim, Basara (Rakhine State IDP) “Also, there are some young people from here who use Rakhine and Bamar account names to add friends from other sides to get news and information and know what the other side is doing. When they read what other sides say this makes them depressed.” Male, 29 years, Rohingya Muslim, Basara (Rakhine State IDP) Across all demographics, the most common negative impacts of social media on young people’s daily lives and wellbeing were those associated with fake news, online romantic relationships, and exposure to hate speech and offensive language. “I think there are more negative impacts. Some post/share news or criticize without knowing the truth.” Male, 35 years, Kayah Buddhist, Daw Lyar Ku & Hte Seh Kaloe villages (Kayah State rural) “Some young girls, they have contact with boys though their phone and go and meet the boys. Their parents are worried and angry at them.” Female, 22 years, Rohingya Muslim, Basara (Rakhine State IDP) “The negative impact is…some young people can get married without seeing each other in person before.” Male, 34 years, Kayan Christian, Lo Bar Kho village (Kayah State rural) Another common theme among urban-based respondents in particular was the addictive nature of social media, which was suggested to impact on young people’s mood, sleep and education. One respondent even suggested that too much time on phones can cause ‘eye cancer’. “Because many young people are addicted to Facebook, some use it for the whole day, even the whole night. Some use it for more than 10 hours a day. They do not pursue their education anymore but rather spend too much time on Facebook to follow more news and information.” Male, 20 years, Rakhine Buddhist, Sittwe (Rakhine State urban) “Social media can be worse than a drug in its influences the young people...They become less interested in their study because of Facebook.” Male, 20 years, Kayan Christian, Loikaw (Kayah State urban) 76