Commentary & Analysis: Smartphone Stockholm Syndrome

Taken from skotgat.com

Have you ever sat down to lunch with a couple of friends, hoping to have a conversation, only to be greeted with stony silence by zombies with illuminated faces, whose heads are tilted downwards at a 45 degree angle?

For those of you who have, I feel your pain. If you have not noticed this, then you are probably guilty of inflicting the pain. The pain of what I call “Smartphone Stockholm Syndrome”. This may sound a little over the top, but I assure you, it is a very serious condition.

Smartphone Stockholm Syndrome put simply is when you have been made captive by the Smartphone, but love it because it treats you well, not dissimilar to the actual Stockholm Syndrome. This condition affects several youth in Singapore, and is spreading like wildfire to other age groups (I know this from personal experience, even my mother has it). Those who have not been made captive by a Smartphone are indirectly affected by the condition, because like me, they have been neglected because of the Smartphones.

As someone whose phone is affectionately labelled ‘the brick’, you may say I am a technological fuddy-duddy. What I look for in a handphone is the ability to call, text, and store some basic media such as music and pictures. I do not like using the Internet on my handphone, the same way I do not like drying the clothes in the microwave.

Buying smartphones has become a domino effect. A couple of your friends buy them, then more and more until you are peer pressured into buying one because all your friends are on What’s App. To the brave ones who have resisted, I salute you, as I know this is not an easy task.

My main issue with Smartphones is not the device itself, but what it does to us. Face-to-face communication is something that bonds us and keeps us sane with all the stress around us. Being able to rant to your friends about all the homework you have or debate about insignificant movie trivia is what help us form relationships.

But when you are met with silence or when your debate is cut short with a quick Google search from your opposer’s smartphone, our ability to communicate with each other and form relationships is impeded.

It is ironic that one of our greatest strengths has become one of our greatest weaknesses. The human thirst for knowledge has gotten us this far, made us able to advance so fast technologically, making it easy for us to access information. But this has also made us dependant on the Internet, and we have become impatient.

I am not totally against Smartphones. They can be rather useful. There are a wealth of apps that can help guide you when you are lost or let you make long-distance phone calls for free. But everything is good in moderation.

So to those who are suffering from Smartphone Stockholm Syndrome I beseech you to put down that phone and have a conversation with those around you. Humans are very influenced by the community around them, and it would be a shame to lose our desire to communicate with one another face to face. It would make us robotic, and we still have time to change. 

Group Blog Critique

Blog being critiqued: newsqueeze.wordpress.com

The blog mostly uses their own first hand stories, which has plus and minus points. On the positive, you can see the editorial style of the writers, but on the minus side, 'big' news is not covered.

It is constantly updated, the last article being posted only a couple of days ago, which is a good thing. The presentation is very clean, suitable for the internet. Most article lengths are also internet appropriate, however there are some that are too long.

Navigation around the blog is easy and simple, and the loading speed is rather fast. However, there is a lot of scrolling required, which might put off online readers. The blog is clearly youth-centric.

There is a good use of online features, especially in the area of social media. There is a facebook widget and a twitter prompt, and is strategically placed. However, the multimedia page has articles which are unrelated to multimedia. There should be just videos rather than the article with the video. Also, the comment box requires a lot of scrolling, which readers may miss.

It would be good if the 'About Us' section has the roles of the group, as it is currently empty. But the blog seems to be running well and would be easy to take over.

Overall, the blog is well presented, and has a good professional look. However, some features require tweaking to make it more suitable for online audiences.

Poly students have mixed reactions to results of annual polytechnic graduate survey

There has been an article recently in the Straits Times about Polytechnic graduates earning more money than previous years. Over the Coffee Mug hits the streets of Temasek Polytechnic to find out how the current students react to this piece of news.

The annual polytechnic graduate survey last year revealed that polytechnic graduates earn $2007 per month on average. However, about 65.4 per cent of graduates landed full-time jobs, down from 67 per cent in 2011. So how do polytechnic students feel about this?

Au Wei Shan, an 18-year-old second year student studying the Diploma in Food Science and Nutrition at TP, was unaware of the results of the graduate survey, but believed that the increase in salary was a “very good thing” because “it’s difficult for us to cope with expenses”.

When asked what her plans after graduation are, she said: “I will try to work with my SIP company for 3-5 years, and then further my studies outside Singapore.” Despite the fact that there is an expected downturn in the employment market, Wei Shan does not think that this will affect her industry, since it is about food, something that is needed everyday.

Au Wei Shan, an 18-year-old student Diploma in Food Science and Nutrition from TP

Nurul Amalina, 19-year-old junior studying in the Diploma in Financial Business Informatics, feels that the added income is “a great improvement and a source of motivation for us poly grads”.

“Now seeing that the pay for poly grads is approximately $2000, more people may choose to go to work first before continuing their further studies,” she added. Her plans for the future however are dependent on her results, as she has deduced that a diploma is not good enough to sustain a full-time job in the long run.

She believes that her industry, IT and Finance, has great growth potential in Singapore, due to the way the country is progressing. She is concerned that the reduction in percentage of graduates being hired for full-time jobs will affect her, and muses that “you never know what the future holds for you anyway”.

Nurul Amalina, a 19-year-old Diploma in Financial Business Informatics student from TP

Another TP student, Deli Tan, a 21-year-old senior from the Diploma in Hospitality and Tourism, agrees that just having a diploma will be tough to sustain a full-time job because “in Singapore society, there is a lot of looking at paper qualification, so it may be difficult to sustain in the long run”.

When discussing how to deal with the tough job market, he sees the effect on Singapore as inevitable, since “currently in Europe, the market is collapsing”. He deems it sensible to “work smart, rather than just working for the money”.

Deli Tan, 21-year-old Diploma in Hospitality and Tourism student from TP

Commentary & Analysis - Print Journalism vs Digital Journalism

It should come as no surprise that journalism is a field that is time-dependant. News is happening all around us all the time, and whoever gets the most interesting news first and presents it in a pleasing manner gets our attention.

The battle of print journalism vs online journalism is one that has been ongoing ever since news companies started online news portals, and citizens were given a voice through blogs such as this one. So what’s the difference between the two forms? To put it simply, print journalism is viewed in hard copy, while digital journalism is viewed in soft copy. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Taken from postnetfarwest.wordpress.com

The print industry has survived the competition posed by magazines, radio and television over the years. But the advent of great volumes of digital journalism, in the form of blogs, is posing a serious threat to their survival. Not just that, but the timeliness of digital journalism in unbeatable. With the widespread use of smartphones, it is easier for a journalist to spot something as it happens and post it onto their blogs. Digital journalism is also markedly more convenient, and cheaper than their print competitors. This is why most print publications have gone digital.

But having print publications is also vital. Newspapers have a certain feel of credibility and a longer shelf life that just cannot be achieved when viewed online. Some people also tend to, excuse my language, digitally defecate all over the internet, making it hard for readers to know what is true and what is false. It is also a great vehicle for advertisements. When reading a publication online, we rarely take notice of the advertisements scattered around the page, but when reading a newspaper, advertisements are more prominent and we tend to take more notice of them.

Taken from www.americandebtproject.com

Fundamentally however, there are similarities. Taken from http://journalism.about.com/od/ethicsprofessionalism/a/printhistory.htm: “The first newspaper in the American colonies - Benjamin Harris's Publick Occurrences both Foreighn and Domestick - was published in 1690 but immediately shut down for not having a required license. Interestingly, Harris' newspaper employed an early form of reader participation. The paper was printed on three sheets of stationery-size paper and the fourth page was left blank so that readers could add their own news, then pass it on to someone else.”

I found this particular extract to be rather interesting as it shows early signs of the citizen journalism attitude within the news industry. The “add your own news, then pass it on to someone else” method is a clear indication that the newspaper was encouraging citizens to pen down their observations and pass them on, albeit in what we now consider to be a primitive fashion. This would in today’s generation, be blogs or comment boxes on news sites.

Personally, I prefer reading print publications. It’s not just for the tangible product that has is neatly divided into sections and presented professionally, but also for the intangible feeling towards it. What are your opinions? Comment below!

Taken from seekersportal.wordpress.com

PBL Reflection 2

My group has been working on our Problem-Based Learning assignment 2, which is to create and post our articles onto our group blog. This has been a major challenge, as it has been difficult to get the site up and running. 
Designing the site took a rather long time, and it was difficult to get all the sections up and running. We have also had to come up with a schedule for people to take charge of writing the articles each week. But after much planning, I think the blog finally looks ready for public viewing, and hope that our concept of "Then & Now" is popular with readers. 

Commentary & Analysis - The Green Bonnet

In the battle between petrol-heads and environmentalists, is it possible to be on both sides? Petrol-heads are essentially people who love cars and environmentalists obviously believe in saving the environment. The dogma of these ideologies would seem to contradict each other, but with scientific advancement, will it ever be possible to unite these two groups? I would like to believe so.

Personally, I am a petrol-head first, and an environmentalist second. I believe not only in the practicality of cars, but in the beauty of them as well. If you have to travel from one place to another, you might as well do it in style and comfort. It is amazing how far we’ve come since the first petrol powered car, the Motorwagen created by Karl Benz in 1886. 

According to conceptcarz.com, this car had less than one horsepower, and had a top speed of eight miles per hour, laughable by today’s standards. Needless to say, a car like this was no gas guzzler. Fast forward to 2012 and things start to get more complicated. The supply of petrol will soon struggle to meet the demand, unless we can find an alternative. But not just any alternative, not something you settle for, but the right alternative.

Karl Benz (front) with Friedrich von Fischer on the Motorwagen courtesy of  www.autowallpaper.de

One option we have is the electric car, a car that works similar to a laptop. Charge its battery to its full power and move it around wherever you like until the battery runs out. No petrol is necessary. This may sound great in theory, but in practice, most fully electric cars are heavy, slow and inconvenient. When they run out of battery, they require long hours of charging, which can be rather annoying, especially in an emergency. Therefore, electricity powered cars are may not be the right alternative.

The Toyota Prius, taken from www.carrostunadosbrasil.com

Another option we have is the hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). The “Toyota Prius” is a great example of this. According to hybrid.co.uk, hybrids have two engines, one petrol and one electric. The electric engine is used for short, slow journeys, and the petrol engine kicks in for longer journeys and when travelling at higher speeds. They also use a clever system called regenerative braking, which charges the batteries with energy used when the car brakes, instead of wasting it, which is what non-hybrid cars do. However, though this method has great fuel efficiency, it still uses petrol, making this a good short-term solution, but not one that completely eradicates our dependency on petrol.

Another alternative is Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) cars. There is evidence of some usage of these cars in Singapore. The combustion of this gas, which is mostly methane, produce less pollutants, making it a ‘greener’ gas compared to petrol. However, the fuel storage poses a problem for car makers. CNG storage requires more storage space than petrol in a car, and therefore, cars have to be specially designed to as to incorporate the fuel tank, as well as provide sufficient space in the car boot. Another problem this poses is inconvenience. There are barely any CNG pumps in Singapore, making it inconvenient to fill up the fuel tank when necessary.

Last but not least, we have Hydrogen fuel. This fuel is the answer to all environmental concerns, the perfect green fuel. The only by-product of hydrogen fuel upon combustion is water, thereby causing no harm to the environment whatsoever. Being a fuel, cars powered by hydrogen would not require any charging. So why do we not use hydrogen? One simple yet paramount reason: money. The cost of manufacturing hydrogen as a fuel is very expensive, and therefore, not commercially viable. Yet.

Sources of Hydrogen, taken from hho-hydrogen-energy.com

So to all future scientists and engineers who may be reading this, I beseech you to find a commercially viable solution to produce hydrogen fuel. This solution satisfies both the petrol-heads and environmentalists concerns, making it the perfect alternative to petrol. In the meantime, we’ll just have to make do with the Prius.

Apathy towards ‘green’ activities in Tampines visible from “Clean & Green” carnival turnout

As global warming is on the rise, some find it important to adopt the 'green' lifestyle. Events are organised to promote such a lifestyle, but is the message being received?

Stage area at the North East Clean & Green carnival

From the 17^th to the 18^th of November, the “North East Clean & Green Singapore Carnival” took place at Tampines Community Plaza. The carnival was organised by the National Environment Agency (NEA), North East Community Development Council (NECDC) and Tampines Grassroots Organisations (GROs).

The carnival was organised as part of the Clean & Green Singapore (CGS) 2013 campaign, a nationwide initiative organised by NEA for the community. At the North East CGS carnival in 2013, the first ever Environmental Watch Group (E.W.G) will be launched, and volunteers were able to sign up for this programme at this year’s carnival.

The carnival consisted of several stalls set up from different organisations, some of which include the Tampines West YEC Eco Interest Group, Chongzheng Primary School, Tampines West Craft Club, Tampines North Primary School, Homespun, Soap Ministry, Tampines Town Council and NEA.

"Captain Green", NEA's mascot

Despite the fact that NEA expected a turnout of 10,000 people, some of the stall managers have not seen a very satisfactory turnout. One such person is the stall manager for the Eco Interest Group from Tampines West YEC (Youth Executive Committee), 23-year-old Ms Eisha Dadlani.

Ms Eisha Dadlani at the Tampines West YEC Eco Interest Group stall

“The turnout could have been better, it’s been rather quiet. We wanted to encourage youths to join because we feel that the youth of today don’t know much about conservation,” said Ms Dadlani.

Their Eco Interest Group was invited to take part in this carnival through their CC. They participate in activities such as Earth Day, and have workshops where they teach attendees to make arts and craft from recycled products.

However, they would still like to take part in this carnival in the future. “We don’t have that many members right now, and hope to spread awareness about our group and the activities we do,” commented Ms Dadlani.

Ms Samihah (far right) with her students and co-stall manager

Ms Samihah Bte Abdul Kader, stall manager and teacher for Tampines North Primary School’s Eco-club, also believes that the turnout could be better. She said: “I think people take it (the environment) for granted. We need to send out more information and messages. There need to be a sense of urgency to start now.”

When asked what activities the Eco-club conducts to do their part for the environment, she mentioned: “We come up with activities and strategise on how to be more environmentally friendly.”

Ms Trina (right) with her colleague at the Homespun booth

Ms Trina from Homespun, who was there to demonstrate how to make flowers from pandan leaves, also faced a similar situation. “The turnout was ok, but not many people take part. I think they like they to do, but they observe or walk away,” she said.

From left to right, Ms Sherry Han, Ms Afrina and Ms Sih-Zau Leong

Chongzheng Primary also had a stall at the carnival, which was manned by three students and one teacher. Ms Sih-Zau Leong, one of the 10-year-old students has observed this lack of participation and interest in green activities. She said: “We have a rooftop garden in school, but quite a lot of students from our school haven’t been there yet.”

Ms Peggy Ong (left) with Ms Elaine, co-owners of Soap Ministry

On the other hand Ms Peggy Ong’s views differ from the others’. “We’ve had a very good turnout, people who come to our stall have been very enthusiastic to learn about how they can make their own soap with natural ingredients,” commented the co-owner from Soap Ministry.

The E.W.G was first initiated by Punggol North in February this year. The focus of that event was to educate dog owners on the importance of cleaning up after their dogs. Punggol Oceanus RC has won the CGS award for Best Team Effort in the North East district.

                                          A band performing at the North East Clean & Green Carnival 2012  

Check out my photo gallery for more pictures from the event.