The Development of Virtual Technological Media in Prevention of Social Violence in Media in the Digital Era

Abstract

This study employed a Research and Development methodology and aimed to: 1) to study the state of social violence issues and the need for online virtual technology media as a preventive tool against social violence in the digital media era. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 20 junior high school students in Nakhon Pathom province, selected on a voluntary basis. The research instruments included semi-structured interview forms and focus group discussions, comprising two groups of 10 lower secondary school students each, also selected voluntarily. Focus group discussion guidelines were employed. Additionally, three experts in media, information, and psychology were chosen through purposive sampling, and interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Qualitative data was analyzed using descriptive analysis, and quantitative data were collected through questionnaires to identify key components of social violence problems in social media, with a sample of 400 participants selected through stratified random sampling. Data analysis employed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) 2) To develop virtual technology media to prevent social violence in the digital media era. Data were collected from three groups of 30 voluntary participants. Instruments included media usage interview forms and assessment tools measuring knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. The data were analyzed using the Paired t-test, and 3) to implement the virtual technology media for preventing social violence among youth in Nakhon Pathom province. Data were collected from 400 junior high school students who used the media, selected through simple random sampling. The instrument used was a satisfaction evaluation form. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation.

The results revealed that 1) the state of social violence issues comprises three aspects. First, perception of violence in social media: Youths frequently encounter violent content presented in various formats, including still images, descriptive texts, audio, and video clips, which are often widely shared. Second, Forms of news presentation: All forms of news presentation impact viewers' emotions to a similar extent. Factors that affect viewers’ feelings include violent visuals, videos, texts, and audio or tone that elicits fear. Third, psychological impact: Exposure to such violent content often leads to fear, paranoia, and depression. Frequent exposure can lead to desensitization, normalizing the violence and potentially resulting in imitative behavior. 2) The virtual reality media developed to prevent social violence demonstrated high levels of effectiveness. The average score for knowledge acquisition was 86.66, categorized as high. The average attitude score was 4.35, also at a high level. The average score for practical application was 82.59, likewise indicating a high level of effectiveness. 3) The satisfaction evaluation in using virtual reality media for the prevention of social violence yielded high results across all dimensions. The overall content dimension scored 4.15, the graphics and design dimension scored 4.13, and the technical and usability dimension of the virtual reality media scored 4.21—all at a high level.