Fears, frolics and follies: Behaviour of Malaysian youth on Facebook

JUST like most things in the realm of technology, it’s hard to classify Facebook as completely good or bad.

Communication challenge: Dr Shanthi says youth like participating in discussions on Facebook, but often get emotional while interacting there. 

Friendly faces, difficult phases 

Dr Shanthi’s research area focused how youth were using Facebook in three areas: communication, learning, and gaming and safety. 

About 60% of the respondents said Facebook had helped them to be more extroverted (despite being shy in real life). Meanwhile, 72.1% said they often used the platform to gather the latest information including current news.  

However, Dr Shanthi says many of the respondents highlighted that they faced difficulties in determining whether information they obtained from Facebook was trustworthy or otherwise. 

“This was actually a difficult concept for them to develop because they couldn’t decide what they should or shouldn’t share, and whom to share with. Most were quite uncertain on how to do it,” she says. 

The youth also admitted that emotions tended to run high while they were on Facebook, especially when they encountered rude comments or provocative language.