Technology: Partner or Menace?

It is amazing how technology has changed our lives, just about everything we use IS technology. We work with technology, study with technology, communicate with technology, and even bathe with technology. The video above shows how a university offers online courses for students. Boasting 24/7 access as well as instructors on stand by near a telephone, the university is able to cater to students despite not having a face-to-face interaction with them. Not just universities, even loved ones are never too far away to converse with handphones or web cams. Long distance relationships have moved out of the deviant category with the use of technology. The saying that "face-to-face interaction is the best method" is slowly being forgotten as more people are draw into the possibilities of technology.

Technology could also be seen from another perspective. With the increasing usage of social network sites, communication on the web could also become dangerous. There could be anonymous users who mean to harm others, trusting the internet with personal information and bank accounts could also lead to disaster with the increase of hackers. Just as the internet is a powerful tool to us, it could also be a powerful tool for those who mean to harm others. Putting that with the power of communication could lead to disaster for us.

There is also the issue of over reliance on technology for our needs. For example, some of us feel safer talking through the internet and thus, become antisocial in reality. Also, with the various social networking sites increasing in popularity, we find ourselves spending more and more time online. What if all this did not exist, no more social networking sites and handphones, if the internet did not exist. Would we be able to continue working and living without technology? Would communication be more effective without technology?

My personal view on this is that technology is a requirement, we may still be able to communicate and live without it, but everything would be less effective. Humans and technology are meant to be a synergy, where the combined ability is greater than the sum of the parts. Then again, proper usage of technology is just as important, because improper usage could lead to miscommunication or making things worse.

What are your views?

Media, True or Flase?

The video above shows an intepretation of how the mass media can affect people. It begins with a "doll head" that tries to arrange it's face to match the beautiful one shown on the screen. As soon as the doll head finishes matching the beautiful face on the screen, an even more beautiful face appears on the screen as the screen starts moving further away from the doll head, despite this, the doll head extends itself to follow the screen. The video ends with the doll head over extending itself and destroying the mechanism holding it up. This video raises the question of how much we believe the media. Do we believe what they show or tell us to be real? How would we know if the face shown on the television is just a photoshopped picture?

It could also be that belief in the media that we consume is something rooted into us since our youth. Studies show that mass media takes up a large portion of our lives, we're exposed to 8 hours of media per day on average. The over exposure to media could work very much like an agenda setting function, where contiunous mention or flashes of the same thing on a television screen or a radio could lead to belief that what is said or shown is true. That however, is just the beginning. If the media was to tell us that a meteor is heading towards the earth with an impact that could decimate the entire world population, how many of us would actually believe it?

As one of those who consume 8 hours of media a day, I can honestly say that i may believe what the media tells me is true. It is more of a Knee-jerk reaction than anything else, when i was just a little younger than i am now, I believed everything written in my History textbook thinking that it cannot be wrong since it's an academic text. Until i found out straight from my history teacher himself that history can be fabricated, and that it has already been altered into several different versions.

Could it be that the Magic bullet theory of media having a strong influence on the general populace is true?
Many of the things we currently believe may also be a fabrication of the media, so how do we actually confirm that what we know is right? Do we ask our friends and family?

What are your views?

A new television Advertisement campaign in Britain was launched to help teenagers recognize the severity of abuse as well as equip them with the know-how to find help. The advertisement is aimed at teenagers aged 13-18 depicting a girl of similar years being abused by her boyfriend.
The campaign hopes to counter the problem of abuse in relationships at a younger age as well as educate those who intend to be abusive or controlling in the consequences of doing so.

http://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/ByDiscipline/Social-Care/984067/Ad-campaign-targets-abuse-teenage-relationships




The campaign was launched with various forms of advertising complete with a dedicated website and school information packs. The campaign also includes an internet viral where users are allowed to interact with their 'perfect partner' in which the partner will eventually become abusive. This would effectively teach teenagers to reject and recognize abuse. The advertisements were based on a light research carried out by the charity organization, NSPCC. In the study, it was found that a quarter of girls aged 13 to 17 have experienced physical violence from their abusive boyfriends.





Personally, i was rather shocked by the data when i saw it, a quarter is an extremely large number especially in a large country such as Britain. It leads one to wonder if there are larger numbers of people being abused in other countries. Could this actually be caused by the break down of interpersonal communications? It may be true for all we know, the disagreement has to be evident though, in some cases of abusive relationships, the partners abused do not seek help and thus, remain in the abusive relationship for a longer period of time. Similarly, the abusive partners refuse to realize the error of their ways and continue to impose their will on their weaker partners.

Do you think both parties are needed to cooperate in order for the resolving of conflict to be functional?








Could Equity also be a reason for abusive relationships to occur? More often than not, the aggressive partner in abusive relationships hold a greater amount of power or authority compared to their more submissive counterparts. The weaker partner will end up having to rely on the stronger partner, this would also cause them to be afraid of terminating the relationship. I feel that this is especially so when one partner is often away at work, the amount of time spent together in a relationship is of as much importance as campaigns to resolve conflict.



What are your views?

Tendencies in perception from movies and anime

Japanese animation, more commonly known to us as Anime has made itself known to the better part of the population around the world. As a result, many of us find our curiousity piqued where japanese culture is concerned. Recently, even movies have been made based on various animes, some examples of such movies include Dragon Ball, Astro boy and Guyver. The result of making anime-based movies into box office hits is akin to plunging the western population into a deep facination of japanese culture.

As such, westerners begin forming their perceptions on japanese culture based on what they have seen in these movies and anime. Just as how Australians viewed japanese negatively based on past prejudices such as the World War II (Smith,E.). Many such misconceptions have also cropped up from people who view anime, for example, people believe that japan still has samurai and geishas. Some of the more outrageous ones include japanese having big,round eyes as portrayed in anime (Johnson, S.)

When I was first introduced to anime 7 years ago, embarrassing as it is, I made similar assumtions only to find myself horribly wrong about japanese culture. The age we view anime is also the age in which we form many assumptions based on what we perceive.These misconceptions of japanese culture could be potentially problematic. A scenario to consider would be bringing up some assumptions we have about japanese culture to a friend or business partner who happens to be japanese. What we perceive may not be what is right.

What are your views on the various misconceptions that stem from our tendencies of perception?

Religious conflict equals violence

Located in the Sentul district in Kuala Lumpur, a Sikh temple was pelted by stones in the evening periods of 14 January. Coincidentally, this was not the first case of deliberate desecration of such cultural constructs. In the past week, there have been numerous arson attacks on churches in Malaysia. The police are currently finding leads on the culprits behind the firebombings. Apparently, the attacks occured due to the official court decision that use of the word 'Allah' is not limited to Islam. The Malaysian Catholic weekly newspaper, also known as the Herald was also attacked for using the word 'Allah' as a reference to God in its malay-language section.

These acts show that religion is an important part of our society. Even though communication has constantly evolved over the years, religion remains a difficult subject to bring up in a conversation. The consequences of doing so could be dire depending on the person, however, even certain situations such as this one require it. Ironically, the consequences of avoiding rational negotiation in this situation would cause it to rapidly escalate out of control.

This is not the first occurence of a religious conflict in history, but i wager that it will not be the last, at least not until we are able to negotiate rationally. The use of violence can intimidate others in some circumstances, but definitely not when religion is concerned. Beliefs are one of the most important things to an individual, as such, only the things that we value as highly will sway our beliefs and violence is not one of them.

What are your views on using violence to resolve religious conflicts?