Date: 7th July 2000, The Nation

If any teenagers were unfortunate enough to be attending the Brand Ogilvy and Mather Forum 2000 hosted by Chulalongkorn University, they would have been a little confused. Wave after wave of laughter swept through the forum as teens were ridiculed for their frivolity in a study that was supposed to help adults understand better their interaction with cyberspace. The problem with research conducted in Thailand about the cyberspace generation is that it is too heavily stereotyped and filled with misunderstanding to provide any profound conclusions.

It was ironic that the two adults conducting the study - they conceded that their combined ages added up to almost a century - understood so little about the research they were presenting and about the computer world in general. Computer terms were mixed up and examples given concerning "frivolity" were simplistic.

For example, teenagers would have been angered about how the term "Len Net", or play the Internet, was being picked on as an example of their frivolity. The term "Len" has been accepted by linguistic experts as a word connoting expertise in whatever a Thai does. Thais natural love for "fun" has resulted in expressions such as "play cars", "play piano" and "play guns". These involve some fun, but also a degree of seriousness and expertise.

Instead of addressing issues such as whether expression on the Internet is helping the teenager be more assertive in class or if the wider exposure to a larger variety of people has broadened their horizons, the research instead focused on the length of time and content of the Internet discussions.

Of course teenagers are frivolous! What is new about that? The teen years are meant to be a time for youth to experience life and test their insecurities. It is a time when the young adult slowly evolves into a responsible one. This should be done without pressure from adults who seem to constantly blame the young for being less responsible than they themselves are.

Then again, if Thai teenagers spending five hours on the Internet can be classed as the chit-ch@t gener@tion, what can be said about the drink-drunk generations who have had such a long history? Despite their busy schedules and over-bearing responsibilities, Thai adults still find substantial time to boast about their latest infidelities or golf handicaps, or to discuss soccer results.

An academic once secretly confided that she found it shocking to hear her former classmates talk about menopause and boast about jewellery instead of debating current events and Thai politics. Yet, she had to "secretly confide" this to those close to her because she would be branded an outcast if she openly complained. Only those with a poor understanding of Thai society would make assertions that meaningless discussions reflect a Thai person's intellect.

Contradictions were rampant throughout the research and no links were made between each aspect of the findings. Apart from the five hour chats, Thai teenagers were found to be rather responsible people. Thais studied 10 hours a day and respected their elders. They valued their virginity, rejected displays of affection and preferred cheaper products with better quality. These qualities are not what one would expect of a "chit-ch@t gener@tion" who talked about nothing but "nonsense" on the phone and the Internet.

If the researchers were more familiar with the Internet, or bothered to browse through today's popular message forums on "frivolous" websites such as Sanook.com, they would be surprised how these responsible qualities are being promoted on websites. Sex before marriage is warned against. Admissions on infidelity are bombarded by hate messages. Anyone buying a PlayStation II for double its price in Japan just to be the first is called "stupid".

The research itself convincingly blames the Thai education system for not creating a reading habit and an analytical mind. "The less the older generation likes to read, the same can be expected of teen behaviour in searching the Internet for information," the research argues. This is conclusive in itself, but neither of the presenters would have admitted it, instead they went for cheap jokes on how emoticons, or alphabetical symbols used to express feeling through text, were used in the online chats.

The Internet not only offers a stage for unlimited expression, it also lets people share and argue opinions. The process can accomplish what the Thai education system has failed to do. Who would have imagined that so many replies to controversial teen issues would be posted on online forums when most students don't even dare to raise their hands in class? That is what is happening today.

Research should be a process. When quantitative statistics contradict the original hypothesis, researchers should not try to insert stereotypes into the findings and instead look for an alternative direction. A recent research on computers, for example, focused mainly on parents' disapproval of their children's computer habits, which involved too many computer games. The researcher instead concluded, out of the blue, that computer games damaged children's eyesight and made their grades drop.

Ogilvy and Mather and Chulalongkorn University's faculty of communication arts would have done better to make some sense out of the contradicting facts. How do Thai teenagers manage to stay so sensible when they are so frivolous? Why do they say so much on the Internet when they say so little in class? If Western ideals were so rampant on the Internet, why are Thai teenagers still proud of being Thai? What restraints or opportunities has the Internet offered to Thai teenagers, which they otherwise would not have experienced?

The people in the forum were either a little too naive or too unfamiliar with cyberspace to sense that an otherwise decent piece of research was being discredited by poor presentation. Or if the presentation was indeed representative of the whole research, so what? Laugh if you will, but teenagers, more than anyone else, have the right to be frivolous for a while.

BY NATEE VICHITSORASATRA