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8. ASEAN and ICT: A Tale of Two Cities?
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Chapter
- Additional Information
8 ASEAN ANd ICT: A TAlE of Two CITIES? Emmanuel C. Lallana The story of ASEAN and ICT may well be a tale of two ASEANs — the “Young ASEAN” and the “Official ASEAN”. Young ASEAN is comprised of “digital natives” — tech-savvy, digitally-nimble, and multi-tasking individuals who are fluent in digital devices and the Internet. Official ASEAN, on the other hand, is composed of “digital immigrants” who are learning to adapt to their new environment but still “retain, to some degree, their ‘accent,’ that is, their foot in the past”.1 The Young ASEAN The youth of Southeast Asia are at the forefront of the global social network revolution. In the first quarter of 2011, there were an estimated 131.3 million Facebook (FB) users in Asia.2 The top five countries in Asia in terms of FB users are Indonesia (35.2 million), India (23 million), the Philippines (22.4 million), Malaysia (10.1 million), and Taiwan ASEAN and ICT: A Tale of Two Cities? 109 (9.1 million). A recent study showed that the Philippines posted the highest FB penetration rate across the globe, making Filipinos “the world’s heaviest users of social media”.3 In fact, Asia is FB’s fastestgrowing region.4 In the last two years, FB has seen 1,000 per cent growth in Malaysia and 4,000 per cent growth in Thailand (4,000 per cent!). As Patrick Winn notes, “As of 2010, the largest Facebook population outside America is no longer the United Kingdom. It’s Indonesia, an archipelago where 80 per cent still lack Internet access.” Young ASEAN is also at the forefront of Twitter use. A 2009 report revealed that two ASEAN countries are in the top twenty global list of those with the largest share of Twitter users.5 They are Indonesia (ranked 6th) and the Philippines (ranked 15th). In terms of Twitter activity, Indonesia is 6th (accounting for 2.3 per cent of the world’s tweets), Singapore is 12th (with 0.88 per cent), the Philippines is 13th (with 0.85 per cent), and Malaysia is 18th (with 0.47 per cent). Young ASEAN is multi-taskers too. A recent study revealed that 8–24 year olds in Asia fit 38 hours’ worth of activities in a 24-hour period.6 Of these 38 hours’ worth of activities that Asia’s youth manage to squeeze in a day, 10 hours are spent on some form of media. The heaviest media users are Malaysians (12.9 hours per day) and Thais (12.8 hours per day). This covers time spent on the Internet, watching TV or DVD/VCD/videos, reading newspapers or magazines, and listening to the radio. In the same study, 31 per cent of “older” Asian youth (15–24 year old bracket) pay 100 per cent attention to the Internet when they are online and a further 38 per cent give the Internet 75 per cent of their attention. Television is the next most involving medium, with 18 per cent of the 15–24 year olds giving it their full attention and 31 per cent giving it 75 per cent of their attention. The study also shows that 37 per cent of the youth connected to information and communications technology (ICT) in the region said that they could not live without the Internet and that 29 per cent would be unable to function without their mobile phones. Overall, the Internet was seen as the best source for staying up-to-date and having access to useful information, entertainment, and enjoyment. The device of choice for Asian youth is the mobile phone.7 According to a survey, personal ownership of mobile phones by Asian youth increased from 60 per cent in 2008 to 64 per cent in 2010.8 The highest [54.175.70.29] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 11:38 GMT) 110 Emmanuel C. Lallana gainers include Singapore where youth mobile phone ownership moved from 80 per cent to 85 per cent in two years. Among the youth surveyed who own a mobile phone in Asia, the average number of contacts on their mobiles is 77 people, which is more than the average number of their instant messaging buddies (74 people) and email contacts (55 people). Topping the chart with the most contacts on their mobile phones are Indonesians (131 contacts), Singaporeans (108 contacts), and Filipinos (102 contacts). Among Asian youth who own mobile phones, about half use their mobiles to listen to...