Thai Children's Current Paradigms Regarding Buddhist Monks

Abstract

This article aims to study the perspective of Thai children regarding monks in the present context of social, technological, and cultural changes. The Thai children referred to here are youth aged between 10-18 years, which is a time for learning, questioning, and self-identity formation. The study found that the attitudes of Thai children towards monks are diverse, ranging from deep respect and faith to skepticism arising from negative news and changes in social values. The main issue is that some children receive information about monks through social media, which sometimes presents distorted information or focuses only on the negative, leading to incorrect perceptions. The new knowledge that emerges from this study includes 1. social media, 2. the image of monks, 3. cognitive paradigms. It is evident that the youth's paradigms change in line with the flow of information received from online media, with their opinions reflecting the type of information they consume. They also exhibit a high degree of individuality, prioritizing their own thoughts first, regardless of external pressures.