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Bruneian Youths on Social Media
Key Trends andChallenges
In the past fi ve years, Brunei Darussalam’s socio-cultural landscape has witnessed a signifi cant transformation,creating social and economic opportunities for Bruneians. Social media sites such as Instagram, Twitter andTikTok have become spaces and sites for racial, political and religious engagements in Bruneian society.
Digitally connected young people and their engagements on various social media platforms are major catalystsin this transformation. They actively share their social and religious practices and, in the process, create newdiscourses that are effectively reshaping the nation’s socio-cultural, religious and political landscape.
This article examines three trends in Bruneian youths’ social media engagements: digital civic engagement andsocial justice; self-expression and infl uencing culture; and new religious expressions and lived religiosities.
Based on these trends, we can expect further evolution of youth culture carrying signifi cance for the nation’sdevelopment.
The social consciousness and mobility of these young people are effectively measured through a study of thefl uidity of their identity, ideas and practices.
Siti Mazidah Mohamad was formerly Visiting Fellow in the Regional Social and Cultural Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore. She is an Assistant Professor and Director for the Centre for Advanced Research (CARe) at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, where she does research on Muslim youth culture and youth engagements with popular culture and new media in Southeast Asia.
