'Watching the news' online: Vietnamese people are wasting time on useless things

The Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Sae Ron scandal is still not over.

In that context, how should social network users behave?

Never silent

Recently, people have been following social media to the point of breathlessness. If you ignore it, you risk becoming "ancient people".

Starting with the story of Quang Linh Vlog, Hang Du Muc and Miss Thuy Tien falsely advertising vegetable candy, at the same time the drama of actor Kim Soo Hyun and the late actress Kim Sae Ron exploded in Korea... until now there is still no end.

Following the love scandal between streamer ViruSs and TikToker Ngoc Kem, people have no "break".

Another large group went to channels/forums to comment on appearance, mainly insulting the appearance of the contestants of the Mister Cambodia 2025 contest.

There are days when drama "piles" on drama. While "waiting" for developments in one case, another drama appears.

And perhaps never before has the online community called Truc Nhan's name as much as it is now. In the song "That's Unexpected ", the artist wrote: "Right now/ The most important thing/ Is that guy hooking up with this girl/ That guy cheating on this girl/ That guy beating this girl/ And she fell down here/ Residents and compatriots/ Information makes their mouths growl with hunger/ Talking nonsense/ A new day of chaos".

Along with the transmission of fanpages/entertainment forums created with the main purpose of attracting views, this information spreads as fast as... electricity!

We "listen for news", listen to scandals just to satisfy our curiosity, so as not to become outdated. For example, the love affairs of KOLs. Such information is useless, sometimes trash on the internet.

Communication expert LE QUOC VINH

A large number of Vietnamese social media users mocked the appearance of Lan Thai, a contestant in the Mister Cambodia contest.

Deposit money and wait for news

"Watching things happen" for free for fun is old news, now there are many people who are serious about paying money to "watch things happen".

Typically in the ViruSs - Ngoc Kem case, ViruSs turned on the comment limit feature to "herd chickens". Only those who paid to register as members could watch and give their opinions. Many people think that the male streamer earned hundreds of millions in just a short time.

Media expert Le Quoc Vinh told Tuoi Tre that the concept of "brain rot" was recently chosen by the Oxford dictionary as the "word of the year" to describe the trend of users being infected by the need to receive poor quality content and information.

Of course not all drama is bad news, but it's clear that a lot of it isn't really necessary for our lives.

Love scandal between Ngoc Kem (left) and ViruSs

According to Mr. Vinh, this is a problem of today's society. It is the needs of a large part of the public that motivate those who create such trashy content to gain certain benefits. In this specific case, the above streamer profited from his own scandal.

"There are even cases where they take advantage of their fame to create greater social influence, sometimes negatively, causing bad consequences for society," he added.

Dr. Nguyen Tuan Anh (Vietnam Youth Academy) said that social networks have both positive and negative aspects, but the negative aspects seem to dominate.

This stems from the psychology of the crowd, which is often attracted to drama, curious or controversial things. As a result, content creators, media companies, and entertainment forums often focus on those issues to increase views and interactions in the highest way.

"There is a phenomenon of media manipulation. Media organizations and individuals intentionally provide small or controversial information to attract more people to participate, making the matter longer and more heated," he said.

Vietnamese social media users, especially young people, tend to spend too much time on "watching news" and drama, mainly celebrity drama. They get caught up in a "psychological game" and want to follow the story to the end.

Dr. NGUYEN TUAN ANH

Internet culture gap

So what is the right way to behave? Mr. Le Quoc Vinh said, "The most important thing is that users should not follow the crowd, proactively select information, and look for useful content." "There is supply, there is demand. The attitude of turning away from junk content is the most effective way to reduce it," he stated.

This expert said this is more useful than relying on state control mechanisms, because many times such content does not violate the law. It is also difficult to require platforms to filter bad content because what is "bad" is not easy to say.

The excessive involvement of netizens in some cases shows that "watching news" is not just harmless, fun or entertaining. They participate in commenting, spreading bad information, showing inhumanity, cruelty, and even signs of violating the law.

Nearly a hundred reporters and editors from news channels and television stations are attending the press conference of Kim Sae Ron's family.

Like the Kim Sae Ron case, there were days when too much news was published invading the late actress's privacy, causing many people to ask what is the limit in "publishing" and waiting and discussing about the drama?

Expert Le Quoc Vinh said that "excessive concern and condemnation can lead to negative boycott waves, affecting unrelated people", he said "violent acts on the internet, personal attacks just to satisfy anger are very worrying".

Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh commented that the act of "collective stone throwing" shows a gap in the culture of using social networks. According to him, this places responsibility on content creators, users and authorities in controlling information.

"In case things go too far, the State can intervene to prevent that information from spreading too much," he said.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hong-bien-tren-mang-nguoi-viet-dang-tieu-thoi-gian-vao-thu-vo-bo-20250329090428913.htm