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Part of
The Pragmatics of Adaptability
Edited by Daniel N. Silva and Jacob L. Mey
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 319] 2021
► pp. 259–282

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

| Thammasat University
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.
Keywords: adaptability/adaptivity dilemma, Thai users, computer applications, instant messaging, ‘leaks’, LINE, toolness, HCI, social responsibility
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Getting acquainted with LINE
    • 2.1LINE and instant messaging
    • 2.2Key features and functionality
  • 3. Adaptation and its wider social implications
    • 3.1 Benefits from LINE
      • 3.1.1Multiple identity portrayal
      • 3.1.2Shaping new practices
    • 3.2 Adaptivity taking its toll
      • 3.2.1‘General’ secondary effects
      • 3.2.2Problems of communication
      • 3.2.3Reduced performance
      • 3.2.4 Online threats
    • 3.3Reacting to the challenges of adaptivity
      • 3.3.1Institutional intervention
      • 3.3.2 User reactions
      • 3.3.3Resilience
  • 4. Summary and conclusion
  • Acknowledgment
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 17 March 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.319.12int
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