Child's play now unfolds online

In this era of social media overdrive, even publicity-shy ordinary citizens have no place to hide. They can become a household name overnight, willingly or not. It’s as simple as that. Ask one Angkana Sabangban. Yes, THAT teacher you have been hearing so much about over the past few days and who must still be wondering what on earth is going on.
Should we be happy that even a little boy now realises the power of online media? The child, upset by friends who shut him out of a Facebook group, vented his frustration in a video clip and broadcast it. “If you don’t bring me back to the 1/9 forum, teacher Angkana will definitely find out about this,” he warned his peers. The rest, as they say, is history.
A crazy trend started. Everyone, when he or she was not happy with something, threatened to “bring it to teacher Angkana”. Countless response videos have been made. The boy was asked to do more clips. Newspapers and TV stations sent reporters to interview the poor teacher, who looked obviously dazed by what happened.
Or should we be a little bit concerned? Social media outlets do empower the previously voiceless. No longer do people have to go to newspapers and try to sell their grievances. A video clip like the boy’s can be more effective than 5 national dailies combined. You never know. Problem is, social media is an anything-goes market – truth, lies, real human dramas or character assassination.
Recently, it was the ex-wife of popular singer Sek Loso. Then it was the star artist himself, who was forced to respond to her charges of drug abuse, child abandonment and physical assault. After that it was former actress Saitarn Niyomkarn, followed by her boyfriend, accusing each other of physical attacks.
Last year, a very well-known actress-singer became a victim of a very nasty video leak. Before that, an audio clip was spread to highlight a tug of war over a child belonging to a female celebrity and her estranged husband.
All of these cases spread like wildfire through the social media, just like those who first uploaded the contents had intended.
We had all clamoured for the traditional media to be “responsible.” Then social media came along and we hailed its “democratisation” and impact. The effects on the accused or “victims” have been largely excused as transitional fallout of the fast, free flow of information. The system will eventually correct itself, social media advocates believe.
By most indications, the day of self-correcting should come, sooner or later. But for now, the boy who posted the “Teacher Angkana” clip has become some sort of a little hero. The friends whom he attacked were largely faceless and you can be forgiven if, in your head, you conjure them up as little villains. All in all, it’s a cute little story of boys and Facebook. Problem is, not everyone using social media outlets is innocent.
Facebook is known to have caused countless break-ups in Thailand – a phenomenon that had wrecked families in the West earlier. Being a Facebook generation member carries great responsibilities, one of which requires us to be “fair” toward those with whom we have issues. As things stand now, how can we be “fair” toward anybody if we can’t really predict the consequences of our online action?
We go online to seek support, to show off, to share, to vent our anger, to promote our ideas, and to attack our “enemies”. While social media can help us fulfil our noble purposes really quickly, malicious goals can also be achieved just as fast. And one thing that a lot of people don’t seem to think about is that while we can retract content on most social media outlets, those on the wrong end of our action can be left with indelible scars. An accusation can be shared a thousand times. A correction, on the other hand, rarely gets the same number of views.