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Chapter 12. How LINE users struggle to come to terms with the adaptability-adaptivity dilemma

Abstract

This article addresses the tension between the two contrasting forces of adaptation, introduced in Mey (1998, 2009). Many aspects of Thai people’s day-to-day interactions through/with LINE, a popular internet-based chat application, challenge the premises that humans should have control over technology (adaptability) rather than letting technology force limits on human’s affordances (adaptivity). My discussion will exhibit how Thai speakers operate LINE to achieve different purposes, both to the benefit and the detriment of themselves and one another, and despite unfavourable consequences from using or interacting with LINE, either known or unknown to them. These practices illustrate changes to various aspects of the Thai mindset and how relationships, identities and interactions among Thais in the modern world are constructed, negotiated and contested.

Abstract

This article addresses the tension between the two contrasting forces of adaptation, introduced in Mey (1998, 2009). Many aspects of Thai people’s day-to-day interactions through/with LINE, a popular internet-based chat application, challenge the premises that humans should have control over technology (adaptability) rather than letting technology force limits on human’s affordances (adaptivity). My discussion will exhibit how Thai speakers operate LINE to achieve different purposes, both to the benefit and the detriment of themselves and one another, and despite unfavourable consequences from using or interacting with LINE, either known or unknown to them. These practices illustrate changes to various aspects of the Thai mindset and how relationships, identities and interactions among Thais in the modern world are constructed, negotiated and contested.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Section I. Adapting truth, speech acts, and ideologies
  5. Chapter 1. Adaptability and truth 27
  6. Chapter 2. How do we adapt ourselves in performing an illocutionary act? 37
  7. Chapter 3. Adapting to changing concepts of time 55
  8. Chapter 4. The reality of technological worldviews 75
  9. Section II. Adapting text and textuality
  10. Chapter 5. Ad-appting children’s stories 101
  11. Chapter 6. Self-containment and contamination 117
  12. Chapter 7. Quotation, meta-data and transparency of sources in mediated political discourse 143
  13. Chapter 8. The adaptability of becoming 171
  14. Section III. Adaptive communities of practice
  15. Chapter 9. Face, conflict, and adaptability in mediated intercultural invitations 191
  16. Chapter 10. Discussing breast cancer in cyber spaces 213
  17. Chapter 11. Expressing opinions and emotions while travelling on-line 235
  18. Chapter 12. How LINE users struggle to come to terms with the adaptability-adaptivity dilemma 259
  19. Section IV. Adapting learning and teaching
  20. Chapter 13. Apprenticeship in microbiology 285
  21. Chapter 14. Technological context 299
  22. Chapter 15. Language policy and language teaching 325
  23. Index 343
The Pragmatics of Adaptability
This chapter is in the book The Pragmatics of Adaptability
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.319.12int

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Section I. Adapting truth, speech acts, and ideologies
  5. Chapter 1. Adaptability and truth 27
  6. Chapter 2. How do we adapt ourselves in performing an illocutionary act? 37
  7. Chapter 3. Adapting to changing concepts of time 55
  8. Chapter 4. The reality of technological worldviews 75
  9. Section II. Adapting text and textuality
  10. Chapter 5. Ad-appting children’s stories 101
  11. Chapter 6. Self-containment and contamination 117
  12. Chapter 7. Quotation, meta-data and transparency of sources in mediated political discourse 143
  13. Chapter 8. The adaptability of becoming 171
  14. Section III. Adaptive communities of practice
  15. Chapter 9. Face, conflict, and adaptability in mediated intercultural invitations 191
  16. Chapter 10. Discussing breast cancer in cyber spaces 213
  17. Chapter 11. Expressing opinions and emotions while travelling on-line 235
  18. Chapter 12. How LINE users struggle to come to terms with the adaptability-adaptivity dilemma 259
  19. Section IV. Adapting learning and teaching
  20. Chapter 13. Apprenticeship in microbiology 285
  21. Chapter 14. Technological context 299
  22. Chapter 15. Language policy and language teaching 325
  23. Index 343
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