Today, new media technologies form an important part of young people’s lives and it is important
for us to understand the needs of young people and the ways new media is appropriated in their
growing lives. However, there is little knowledge about the social uses of new media technologies
among young people in Malaysia. This study builds upon new media studies in developing a
framework for studying young people’s patterns of engagement with the new media in
contemporary media landscape in Malaysia. Questionnaire surveys were conducted among a
sample of 1200 young people aged 13 -15 and 16-18 age groups across Malaysia to examine their
patterns of new media engagement. As for the qualitative phase, focus group interviews were
conducted among young people to examine their media consumption practices on selected issues
to provide a rich understanding and documentation on the changing practices in the new media
environment of young people’s lives in Malaysia today. The study reveals how young people
appropriate new media in their everyday lives and the embedding of new media within the
temporal and social dimensions of young people’s life.
