Post Presentation Review

Presentation is part and parcel of the life of a business school student, but the ES1102 presentation was a different experience for me. Normally in Biz school, the key to a successful presentation is practice and lots of preparation for the infamous Q&A sessions (when everyone in class shot you down to score for Class participation mark).

This ES1102 presentation was totally different from what I expected, in a positive way. The feedbacks from my classmates are largely positive and suggestions on presentation skills, which are still very useful for me. Without the cut-throat Q&A session, I was able to truly display my passion for the topic and express my ideas.

Critical reflection

When I was first enrolled in ES1102 at the start of this semester, I didn't have high expectations for the module and didn't expect myself to benefit from this “basic” English language module. To make things worse, when I asked my seniors that took this module previous semesters, the responses weren't very positive as well. As a result of my negative perception towards the module, I was rather unwilling when attending my first lesson.

However, at the end of the semester when I reflected about this module, I detected a drastic change in attitude. The change was not a sudden one, it was a rather subconscious change of attitude due to multiple reasons. The greatest thing about this module is that it allows peer evaluation, and this is the reason why I enjoyed this module. By receiving and giving constructive feedbacks, it was really a two-way communication and learning process. The insightful comments given by the tutor and classmates really helped me to help and corrected some of my stubborn mistakes.

At the beginning, I was complaining about the workload of this “Zero MC” module. In actual fact, the workload was very manageable and effective in encouraging us to practice. Having the flexibility of completing assignment at our own pace was really helpful as I was having a busy and stressful semester. The pace of the teaching was also progressive and very specific, which helped me to catch up with my peers. Overall, I am very thankful for ES1102 and what the module has taught me.

Problem Solution Essay Draft 3- Nomophobia

Nomophobia, the abbreviation for "no-mobile-phone-phobia", is a psychological disorder that is caused by the fear of being out of mobile phone connection. A study done by a U.K. university claims that some 53% of the population had anxiety when they couldn't use their phone (Piombino, 2014). Technology has made the situation worse. With the rapid technological advancement in telecommunication sector in Singapore, Singaporean teenagers grow up in an environment whereby phones are a form of necessity. The severity of the nomophobia disorder varies across different demographic groups, and the disparities are clearly visible in Singapore society. In the Infocommunication Development Authority’s (iDA) Technology Roadmap, teenagers age 15 – 24 spend an average of 7.3 hours daily on social networking platforms, and with a smartphone penetration rate of over 90%, a large percentage of these hours are spent on social media via their smartphones (iDA, 2012). In order to tackle Nomophobia as a major social problem, iDA should lead the entire operation and join forces with other relevant stakeholders especially schools and families to develop campaign and talks to warn teenagers of the harmful effects of nomophobia.

By understanding the biochemical chain of reaction that caused nomophobia, we can conclude that smartphone addiction is similar to other addictions as it involves a dysregulation of dopamine. A local article by Wong (2014) quoting Greenfield, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University Of Connecticut School Of Medicine, explained “Every time you get a notification from your phone, there’s a little elevation in dopamine that says you might have something that’s compelling, whether that’s a text message from someone you like, an email, or anything.” The same article pointed out that mobile phones are no longer a tool for communication, but a major channel to fulfil human nature of being a social animal. The negative impact of Nomophobia on teenagers far exceed that of adults as teenagers have less self-control and often easily influenced by external environment. The fear of being left out from their social circles forces them to constantly check and be active on their mobile phones.

The influence nomophobia has over teenagers could affect Singapore social structure and cause negative repercussions that involve their families, social circles and even the entire society. Many teenagers prefers to communicate with other people via phones and avoid face-to-face interactions. This reduces their connectivity with the rest of the society and cause unnecessary friction within families. Furthermore, constant usage of mobile phones is one of the top distractions that actually decreases work/study efficiency (MACRAE, 2011). As a result, school results might be affected and effectiveness of learning might potentially drop.

Despite the increased amount of attention on Nomophobia, no cure or prevention method has been proven to effective against it. The most common measure to deter Nomophobia has been online articles and videos that increase awareness of Nomophobia. For example, online communities such as Singapore Hardware Zone and the Straits Times forum that allow advocates to voice their opinions and suggest solutions for this issue. In such articles, self-help measures are being suggested as recommendation for mobile phone addicts.

However, this efforts in combating Nomophobia is far from sufficient. Purely increasing awareness will not deter teenagers from falling into the trap of Nomophobia and within the youth community, there is no powerful influence to mitigate the peer influence and the strong culture of mobile social networking. As mentioned earlier, most teenagers fail to consider Nomophobia as a negative behaviour, and even when they realise this issue, they lack the necessary self-control to remedy the problem.

iDA which oversees all media related issue should consider including Nomophobia in the latest Technology Roadmap. Just like Health Promotion Board’s (HPB) healthy lifestyle campaign, iDA could initiate an island-wide campaign to increase Singaporean’s awareness, and it could initiate different sub-campaigns to encourage Singaporeans to understand how over-usage of mobile phone and social networking can be harmful. To effectively reach out to the teenage population, social media mobile campaigns should be the main form of engagement. A good example should be UNICEF Tap Project, a project to donate clean to third world countries via a mobile app. iDA can adopt a similar system with a similar app that tracks the amount of time spent on social networking platforms by a user and incentivise users to reduce usage. A possible incentive can be Ministry of Education’s (MOE) School Pocket Money Project, whereby the MOE donate money to needy students to support their basic education. Similar to the UNICEF Tap project, every minute without social networking will contribute to students who need financial aid. By promoting this App to the youth population in Singapore, they are essentially helping members of their own community and people who they can relate to, even their friends. This will provide a greater motivation for them not to be over-dependent on mobile devices. In addition, iDA collaboration with schools and Community Centres (CC) will further increase the general awareness of Nomophobia. Through this collaboration, students and families will understand the damages that nomophobia might cause and prevent them from occurring.

While Singaporeans enjoy the convenience that cutting-edge telecommunication provides us, we cannot overlook the side-effect of having a digitally connected world. The Singapore government has the responsibility to mitigate these side-effects on Singaporeans, especially the future generation. Educational institutions that interact directly with these teenagers too have a significant influence over them. Most importantly, the motivation to change must come from within the youth community, self-motivation and regulation is the only way to solve the root of issue.

[922 words]

References

iDA. (2012). Infocomm Technology Roadmap. Retrieved from https://www.ida.gov.sg/~/media/Files/Infocomm%20Landscape/Technology/TechnologyRoadmap/SocialMedia.pdf

MACRAE, F. (2011, Augest 4). Mobile phones and laptops given to workers actually DECREASE productivity. Dailymail. Retrieved http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2022440/Mobile-phones-laptops-given-workers-actually-DECREASE-productivity.html

Piombino, K. (2014, Jan 12). The Guide to Surviving Without Your Smartphone (Infographic). Entrepreneur.com. Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230764

Wong, S. (2014, Augest 1). Feeling stressed without your phone? You may be suffering from nomophobia. Hardwarezone.com. Retrieved from http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/tech-news-feeling-stressed-without-your-phone-you-may-be-suffering-nomophobia

An Influential Event

An Influential Event

An influential event that changed me was the 6 month exchange program to University of Manchester. It has always been my dream to visit Manchester and the Theatre of Dream – Old Trafford Stadium, just to fulfil my desire as a soccer fan.

However, upon arriving in Europe, I found out that there are so much more that I can learn and it was really an eye opener. The rich culture and differences in lifestyle was nothing like our lifestyle in Singapore. At the same time, these differences caused some problem in the initial settling in period. All by myself, I learnt to take care of myself and adapt to the changes.

Another advantage of being in Europe is the convenience to travel beyond borders, I went to 10 different countries and that experience is priceless to me. During these 6 month, I was fortunate to meet other like-minded travellers and fostered strong friendship with them. Despite coming from different background, we were able to understand each other’s culture better and learn to accommodate one another. It taught me to respect everyone’s cultures and be receptive towards others.

Comparing Europe with Singapore, I can now appreciate Singapore better. Things I used to take for granted like our public transport and clean environment mean more to me and it is my duty as a Singaporean to maintain the high standard of our nation.

Overall, it was the best overseas experience I had so far and I am inspired to aim higher as the world far bigger than just Singapore.

Draft 1 Nomophobia - Problem Solution Essay

Draft 1 Nomophobia

Nomophobia, the abbreviation for "no-mobile-phone-phobia", is a psychological disorder that is caused by the fear of being out of mobile phone connection. A study done by a U.K university claims that some 53% of the city population had anxiety when they couldn’t use their phone (Piombino, 2014). Technology has not come to the rescue, on the contrary, technology has made it worse. With the rapid technological advancement in telecommunication sector in Singapore, our teenagers grew up in an environment that phones are a form of necessity. The severity of disorder varies across different demographic groups and the disparities is clearly visible in Singapore society. In Infocommunication Development Authority’s (iDA) Technology Roadmap, teenagers age 15 – 24 spend an average of 7.3 hours daily on social networking platforms and with a smartphone penetration rate of over 90%, a large percentage of these hours are spent via their smartphones (iDA, 2012).

By understanding the biochemical chain of reaction that caused Nomophobia, we can conclude that smartphone addiction is similar to other addictions as it involves a dysregulation of dopamine. A local article by Sidney Wong quoted Dr. David Greenfield, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University Of Connecticut School Of Medicine explained “Every time you get a notification from your phone, there’s a little elevation in dopamine that says you might have something that’s compelling, whether that’s a text message from someone you like, an email, or anything,” (Wong, 2014). The same article pointed out that mobile phones are no longer a tool for communication, but a major channel to fulfil human nature of being a social animal. The negative impacts of Nomophobia on teenagers far exceed that of adults as teenagers has less self-control and easily influenced by external environment. The fear of being left out from their social circles forces them to constantly check and be active on their mobile phones.

The influence Nomophobia has over the teenagers could affect our social structure and brings about negative repercussions that involves their families, social circles and even the entire society. Many teenagers prefers to communicate with other people via phones and avoid face-to-face interactions, this reduces their connectivity with the rest of the society and cause unnecessary friction within families. Furthermore, constant usage of mobile phones is one of the top distractions that actually decrease work/study efficiency (MACRAE, 2011). As a result school result and curriculum will be affected and effectiveness of learning will drop significantly.

Despite the increased amount of attention on Nomophobia, no cure or prevention method has been proven to effective against it. The most common measure to deter Nomophobia has been online articles and videos that increase awareness of Nomophobia. For example, online communities such as Singapore Hardware zone and Straits Times forum that allow advocates to voice their opinions and suggest solutions for this issue. In such articles, self-help measures are being suggested as recommendation for mobile phone addicts.

However, this efforts in combating Nomophobia is for from sufficient. Purely increasing awareness will not deter teenagers from falling into the trap of Nomophobia and within the youth community, there is no powerful influence to mitigate the peer influence and the strong culture of mobile social networking. As mentioned earlier, most teenagers failed to consider Nomophobia as a negative behaviour and even when they realised this issue, they lack the necessary self-control to remedy the problem.

In order to tackle Nomophobia as a major social problem, Singapore government should spearhead the entire operation and join forces with other relevant stakeholders especially schools and families. iDA which oversees all media related issue should consider including Nomophobia in the latest Technology Roadmap. Just like Health Promotion Board’s (HPB) healthy lifestyle campaign, iDA could initiate an island-wide campaign to increase Singaporean’s awareness, roll out different sub-campaigns to allow Singaporeans to understand how over-usage of mobile phone and social networking can be harmful. To effectively reach out to the teenage population, Social media mobile campaigns should be the main form of engagement. A good example should be UNICEF Tap Project, a project to donate clean to third world countries via a mobile app. iDA can adopt a similar system with a similar app that tracks the amount of time spent on social networking platforms by a user and incentivise users to reduce usage. A possible incentive can be Ministry of Education’s (MOE) School Pocket Money Project, every minute without social networking will contribute to students who need financial aid. By promoting it to the youth population in Singapore, they are essentially helping members of their own community and people who they can relate to, even their friend. This will provide a greater motivation for them not to be over-dependent on mobile devices. In addition, collaboration with schools and Community Centres (CC) will further increase the general awareness of Nomophobia.

As technology advances, it brings about both positive and negative impacts on our society. While we enjoy the convenience that cutting-edge telecommunication provides us, we cannot overlook the side-effect of having a digitally connected world. Singapore government has the responsibility to mitigate these side-effects on Singaporeans, especially the future generation. Educational institution that interact directly with these teenagers too have a significant influence over them. Most importantly, the motivation to change must come from within the youth community, self-motivation and regulation is the only way to solve the root of issue.

[890 words]

References:

iDA. (2012). Infocomm Technology Roadmap. Singapore: iDA. Retrieved from https://www.ida.gov.sg/~/media/Files/Infocomm%20Landscape/Technology/TechnologyRoadmap/SocialMedia.pdf

MACRAE, F. (2011, Augest 4). Mobile phones and laptops given to workers actually DECREASE productivity. Retrieved from Dailymail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2022440/Mobile-phones-laptops-given-workers-actually-DECREASE-productivity.html

Piombino, K. (2014, Jan 12). The Guide to Surviving Without Your Smartphone (Infographic). Retrieved from entrepreneur.com: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230764

Wong, S. (2014, Augest 1). Feeling stressed without your phone? You may be suffering from nomophobia. Retrieved from Singapore Hardwarezone: http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/tech-news-feeling-stressed-without-your-phone-you-may-be-suffering-nomophobia

Reader Response Draft 3

Reader Response Draft 3

Morozov (2015) claims in his article “who’s the true enemy of internet freedom – China, Russia, or the US” that US is the true enemy of internet freedom. Although China and Russia censor and control internet freedom by imposing more restrictions on US based company and storing their domestic user’s data, they only do so to protect internal technological sovereignty and minimise US influence. However, US government aims to monitor and collect data from US based companies regardless of location.

However, it might be too naïve to accuse US of being the “true enemy” of internet freedom and simply believing that China and Russia’s actions are justified. In my opinion, Chinese and Russian governments use these restrictions to control their citizen's freedom of speech on the internet and manipulate their ideas through the transmission of information. The restriction on Chinese and Russian internet citizens are more severe than just collection of personal data. All these policies adopted by the individual governments are equally damaging to internet freedom.

Both countries’ governments have previous track records of controlling media and freedom of speech in their respective counties. according to E.H (2013) China has two major practices that control its citizens’ interaction on the internet: The Great Firewall, as it is called by domestic and overseas users, which limit access Chinese user’s access to external websites, and Golden Shield, an internal system to monitor Chinese citizen’s movements on the net. Both measures serve more than just protecting internal technological sovereignty.

Evidence indicates that information are being manipulated by the Chinese government before reaching its citizens. One perfect example will be the series of riots occurred in Tibet during the period 2008 to 2012, whereby information are made readily available earlier and more accurately overseas as compared to within the Great Firewall. Other measures that the Chinese government adopted includes banned word on search engines and strict censorship about political issues.

Russia, on the other hand, faced different criticism after imposing a package of sweeping new restrictions on internet and blogging. Razumovskaya (2014) stated that users are forced to reveal their personal information and imposed stricter control over dissemination of information by set a more harsh punishment for companies and individuals. Such restrictions might have negative repercussions on internet based industries and affect businesses that rely on online information in one way or another.

Russia government’s actions potentially decrease Russia’s value to non-Russian companies and affecting the competitiveness and connectivity of Russia as a whole in the global market. By doing so, not only the internet freedom, but other internet related benefit will be affected.

Morozov argued in his article that Russia’s action can be considered a domestic policy and it is not as “evil” as US’s actions. However, I will like to point out that the nature of the actions are almost identical and we cannot jump into conclusion purely by comparing the scale of the affected population.

The line between internet freedom and causing chaos online is becoming blurred, it is necessary for the governments to regulate and monitor the internet to keep our cyberspace safe, but excessive control will definitely infringe user’s privacy. Perhaps, governments are still experimenting how best to balance both side to achieve optimum outcome.

<537 words>

References

E.H. (2013, April 21st). How does China censor the internet? Retrieved from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/04/economist-explains-how-china-censors-internet

RAZUMOVSKAYA, O. (2014, April 29th). Russian Parliament Approves New Law Restricting the Internet. Retrieved from The Wall Street Journal: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304163604579531460215555456

Reader Response Draft 1&2

Morozov (2015) claims in his article “who’s the true enemy of internet freedom – China, Russia, or the US” that US is the true enemy of internet freedom. Although China and Russia censor and control internet freedom by imposing more restrictions on US based company and storing their domestic user’s data, they only do so to protect internal technological sovereignty and minimise US influence. However, US government aims to monitor and collect data from US based companies regardless of location.

However, it might be too naïve to accuse US of being the “true enemy” of internet freedom and simply believing that China and Russia’s actions are justified. There might be other hidden agendas for the Chinese and Russian government behind their restriction over domestic internet freedom. The restriction on Chinese and Russian internet citizens are more severe than just collection of personal data. In addition, their freedom of speech and expressing their (political) opinions are largely restricted as well. All these policies adopted by the individual governments are equally damaging to internet freedom.

Both countries’ governments have previous track records of controlling media and freedom of speech in their respective counties. China has two major practices that control its citizens’ interaction on the internet (E.H, 2013): The Great Firewall, as it is called by domestic and overseas users, which limit access Chinese user’s access to external websites, and Golden Shield, an internal system to monitor Chinese citizen’s movements on the net. Both measures serve more than just protecting internal technological sovereignty.

Evidence indicates that information are being manipulated by the Chinese government before reaching its citizens. One perfect example will be the series of riots occurred in Tibet during the period 2008 to 2012, whereby information are made readily available earlier and more accurately overseas as compared to within the Great Firewall. Other measures that the Chinese government adopted includes banned word on search engines and strict censorship about political issues.

Russia, on the other hand, faced different criticism after imposing a package of sweeping new restrictions on internet and blogging. Users are forced to reveal their personal information and imposed stricter control over dissemination of information by set a more harsh punishment for companies and individuals (RAZUMOVSKAYA, 2014). Such restrictions might have negative repercussions on internet based industries and affect businesses that rely on online information in one way or another.

Russia government’s actions potentially decrease Russia’s value to non-Russian companies and affecting the competitiveness and connectivity of Russia as a whole in the global market. By doing so, not only the internet freedom, but other internet related benefit will be affected.

Morozov argued in his article that Russia’s action can be considered a domestic policy and it is not as “evil” as US’s actions. However, I will like to point out that the nature of the actions are almost identical and we cannot jump into conclusion purely by comparing the scale of the affected population.

The line between internet freedom and causing chaos online is becoming blurred, it is necessary for the governments to regulate and monitor the internet to keep our cyberspace safe, but excessive control will definitely infringe user’s privacy. Perhaps, governments are still experimenting how best to balance both side to achieve optimum outcome.

<533 words>

Reference:

E.H. (2013, April 21). How does China censor the internet? The Economists.

RAZUMOVSKAYA, O. (2014, April 29). Russian Parliament Approves New Law Restricting the Internet. Retrieved from The Wall Street Journal: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304163604579531460215555456

Summary Draft 1

Morozov (2015) claims in his article “who’s the true enemy of internet freedom – China, Russia, or the US” that US is the true enemy of internet freedom. Although China and Russia censor and control internet freedom by imposing more restrictions on US based company and storing their domestic user’s data, they only did so to protect internal technological sovereignty and minimise US influence on their citizens. However, US government aims to monitor and collect data from anyone who uses US based companies regardless of location. 

Morozov (2015). Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom – China, Russia, or the US. The Guardian. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/04/internet-freedom-china-russia-us-google-microsoft-digital-sovereignty

Living in a Globalized World: The Importance of English for Me

Our world is shrinking. Globalization and advancement in communication technology have greatly changed the world we used to know. Growing up in four different countries provides me a rather unique and culturally diverse childhood experience, it also allow me to understand the importance of English in this globalizing world. English as the most commonly used language in the world is more than merely a communication tool, it provides us with a common identity and endless opportunities.

An estimation of 430 million people speak English as their first language and an additional 1 billion people speak English as second language, it might or might not be the most widely spoken language in the world but it is definitely recognised as a global language.

Economic, social, education and so many other aspects of our lives has changed due to globalization and English language has perfectly integrated these changes into our lives. The convenience that English language brings to our everyday lives is unimaginable.

From the economic point of view, English language provides us with a larger and more dynamic economic system. Companies now can venture in global market and talent pool to expand their businesses. English language as common language helps to break down the language barrier and therefore improves the ease of communication.

The globalized world also encourages interaction between cultures. English language is one of major drivers behind the fusion of different cultures. With that, we can now exchange ideas and ideologies with ease.

Lastly, it is something close to my heart. English language provides students around the world more resources. We now have access to more articles, readings and researches to aid us in our studies. English language also open a new opportunity for learning. Students like myself could study abroad and attend other international academic events.

English language has become an important part of our lives and as globalization continues to shape our society, it will only become more important to us all.