Mothering in the digital age

More than 80 per cent of Asian mums have ditched traditional channels like newspapers, television, and magazine in favour of the Internet, according to a new survey conducted by Southeast Asia’s largest online parenting magazine, AsianParent.com. Its research looked at 10,000 mothers – 4,586 Thai, 2,465 Indonesian, 2,729 Singaporean and 668 Malaysian – and discovered that all increased their Internet use once they became mothers.
That’s good news for marketers trying to sell their products as it seems these mothers are constantly on their smartphones checking email, visiting parenting sites, and chatting with other on social media. About 82 per cent spend at least one hour daily on the Net while a massive 14 per cent spend more than six hours.
Gone, it seems, are the days when Asian mums in need of expert parenting advice would turn to their own mothers, other family member or friend. Instead, 31 per cent of Thai mothers head straight to a parenting website. Others (22 per cent) use a search engine while 19 per cent prefer Facebook. Parenting websites are also topped the poll with Malaysian and Singaporean mothers, with 32 per cent of mums choosing them for support.
Sirina Maneechote, an English newsreader with Radio Thailand, says she prefers to search for advice and useful information from the Internet as the older generation’s suggestions are rarely relevant to today’s world.
Uraiwan Charoentawornpanit, a teacher, family coach for Care Club and a mother of two, says that while there is a wealth of information in cyberspace, she still prefers to consult other mothers, pointing out that they usually have first-hand knowledge. This is particularly useful in terms of dealing with special children, such as those with autism.
“Groups that form on the social networks like Facebook and Line allow mothers to share a great deal of interesting information. It’s not just about posting cute pictures. I find social media very helpful in that it provides information in real time. I think the social media play a major role in how children are raised these days,” she says.
Proof of the Thai love for social media was given when the survey asked mothers what they would do if they had an extra hour a day. While many did respond they’d spent it with their families, 29 per cent indicated they would be online – considerably higher than their Malaysian and Singaporean mums at four and six per cent respectively.
Unsurprisingly, Facebook is the dominant social networking platform in terms of users in Asia with 99 per cent of mums on Facebook though a striking number of users are now diversifying to such platforms as Google Plus.
“For Thais, Line is also the dominant player in the online message space with 89 per cent of mums now Line users, followed by WhatsApp with 23 per cent,” says Nuttaporn Chanchokpong, chief editor of Tickled Media, the publisher of AsianParent.com.
She also points out that Thai mums prefer to chat with other mums on the Internet instead of face-to-face. A quarter of Thai mothers say they log in to Facebook groups and web boards several times daily to chat with other mums, but 48 per cent never meet their network friends in real life.
Nayada Harnrojanakul, who works for the Custom Department’s legal office, finds the Line group the most convenient channel for working mums with little time on their hands.
“New technology makes it easier for the Asian mum to surf the web on the go, chat with other mums via social media sites, get parenting advice and shop. That means she’s active online throughout her waking hours,” says Nuttaporn
Suparat Matsatit agrees. The columnist and a spokesperson for the Single Mom Marketing project, says she doesn’t bother with department stores anymore as she can find everything she wants online and at a cheaper price. “From diapers to bicycles, I find information then shop online. And today I don’t even need to do a lot of research to find the best deals. The other mothers on the social networks tell me,” she says.