Bruneian Youths on Social Media: Key Trends and Challenges

Summary

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• • In the past five years, Brunei Darussalam’s socio-cultural landscape has witnessed a significant transformation, creating social and economic opportunities for Bruneians. Social media sites such as Instagram, Twitter and TikTok 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 catalysts in this transformation. They actively share their social and religious practices and, in the process, create new discourses 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 and social justice; self-expression and influencing culture; and new religious expressions and lived religiosities.

• • Based on these trends, we can expect further evolution of youth culture carrying significance for the nation’s development.

• • The social consciousness and mobility of these young people are effectively measured through a study of the fluidity of their identity, ideas and practices.