Ethnically and socially, I belong to the following communities: Thai, North Eastern Thai (E-San), and Black American. However, I also feel like I am somewhat of a 'third-culture' kid. I don't necessarily feel completely at home anywhere. Thailand is where I am a local, and America is where I can see people who look like me and may share some of my lived experiences.

The concept of online identities is fascinating, especially how individuals craft different personas across platforms. For instance, a student may use LinkedIn to present a professional side, while Facebook highlights personal connections. It’s interesting how these platforms allow for a wide range of self-expression, from informal language with friends to creating game avatars or posting instagram stories in a second language. These digital spaces not only help build new identities but also expand how we connect with others and explore different cultures. How do you think these online identities influence our real-life interactions and perceptions?

This is certainly interesting. When I was in elementary and middle school in Thailand, we had to learn how to write a formal sick leave letter to our teachers

This part is so important and worth hearing as a reminder. It seems like a small note, but it’s very real. Nowadays, people spend so much time engaging with videos on social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, where short 15-second clips are widely watched without deeper analysis or follow-up with more reliable sources, like books or people from the actual community. Personally, I’ve always been curious about other cultures and watched many foreign movies, but even then, I was often exposed to limited perspectives. This is why it's crucial to seek a variety of viewpoints through travel, experiential learning, or literature to better understand cultures beyond the surface level. Gaining real knowledge is the antidote to the "single story."

This terminology is new to me but it is also very relevant

I completely agree with the idea that cultural identities are dynamic and can change with life experiences. Growing up as a biracial person in Thailand, I didn’t have immediate examples of Black culture around me, which left me struggling with aspects of my identity, like how to style my long, thick, curly hair in middle school. I would often rely on wearing a headband to force my frontal hair to lay flat, as I didn’t know other options. It wasn’t until I spent more time with my Black side of the family that I realized there were different ways to style my hair and gain confidence as a young Black woman. This experience taught me that identity is fluid and shaped by both our environment and our connections, and we each have the power to redefine it based on our experiences.

I can relate to this

I feel like this issue came up a lot during the massive protests in support of George Floyd during the pandemic lockdown in 2020. I remember seeing an Asian acquaintance of mine post extremely xenophobic videos in an attempt to "prove" that Africans hate Asians, and vice versa. This is also an example of how people often misinterpret what they see on social media, and how some of us fall victim to algorithms that mostly expose us to content that aligns with our existing beliefs. Unfortunately, this doesn't foster true cultural integration—instead, it reinforces division and misunderstanding.