Opinions towards Social Media of Elderly in Bangkok

Abstract

This study investigates opinions of the elderly living in Bangkok towards the social media. Objective: 1)to investigate their opinions about social media literacy and 2) to understand behaviour of social media use. Methods: In-depth interviews was conducted with 20 participants. Participants had good social media awareness. The main reason of using social media was for keeping in touch with friends and relatives and tracking news. The views of older people towards the social media is positive e.g., for relieve loneliness. The most frequent use social media is via the LINE application, followed by Facebook. In addition, it was found that gender and level of education are linked to social media literacy. Regarding, 1) Female group with a bachelor's degree or higher, there are positive comments about using social media, using Line and Facebook.  2) Male group with a bachelor's degree or higher, this group has positive comments on social media, using Line. 3) Male and female groups with education below junior high school, this group has positive opinions about social media, use LINE regularly, rarely use Facebook.