Friends after Retirement : The Use of Virtual Communities among the Elderly in the LINE Application Group

Abstract

This article aims to answer how a group of real-life nonacquaintance elderly behave in the virtual community and how the virtual community affects them. In-depth interviews and non-participant observations were used to collect data from a group of 5 Bangkokian elderly aged 60 years and older. They used the Pantip website and the Line application as their means of social gathering. The result indicates that before they retired, they had used Pantip to find interesting information in their free time. After retirement, they continued to use it to establish new relationships with other seniors whom they had never known in real life. Their participation in the website consequently led to a gathering in Line. This new platform of the virtual community allowed them a variety of interactions, namely sending and sharing pictures, information, and video clips, having conversations on topics of mutual interest, and arranging face-to-face meetings to foster further relationships in the physical space. Being part of the virtual community positively affected them in that they received more news and information, their loneliness was relieved and moral support was given. Nevertheless, social media gatherings undeniably had negative impacts on them. Their expenses increased as a result of the use of the virtual community, their social gatherings in the physical space, and their use of the virtual community for a long period caused health problems.