Sisamon Kepwai was 82 when Bangkok’s silence began to weigh too heavily on her.
For decades she had lived in Ratchaburi, running a small family restaurant alongside her daughter, where they served coffee and food to neighbors she had known all her life. But nearly five years ago she moved to the capital to be close to her grandchildren, and everything changed there: from her window she saw only buildings, never people. Her grandson Pansoon ‘Por’ Sritubtim, 27, found her several times sitting in front of the television, alone, with nothing else to do.
It was he who came up with the idea of getting her to play Roblox. What began as a distraction became a bridge: Sisamon learned how to move around in the game, understood her grandchildren’s world better, and even gives them advice about discipline, such as going to bed at 9 p.m. and not neglecting their studies. Por’s posts showing his grandmother playing went viral on TikTok.
Today Sisamon is no longer just the grandmother who watched the days go by in a Bangkok apartment. She is proof that the gap between generations can sometimes be closed with a controller in one’s hands.