Education and Technology (Week 6)

The message behind the cartoon: Children are becoming more and more tech-savvy at a younger age.This generation of youths have been born into a culture which is heavily reliant on technology. They need to learn how to handle technology and adapt to this culture at a very young age.

As technology grows in its importance and significance to our everyday lives, educators around the world feel the need to harness the great potential of the internet and computers and to incorporate it into their lessons, bringing learning to a whole new level.

Currently, computers are such an important part of education. The students of today rely heavily on computers. Even the teachers rely on it to distribute slides, communicate with students, and even hold discussions online. If so much progress has been made in the last 10years, it would come as no surprise if technology will play an even greater part in education in the future. We may eventually reach the stage where there is no need for textbooks and handouts and possibly even exam papers. There may come a time where everything is computerized, and all you need is a personal computer or a hand-held device to get through your school days. Guess only time will tell what the future holds for students of the future generation.

The benefits associated with e-commerce (week 5)

E-Commerce is one of the most important facets of the Internet to have emerged in the recent years. Electronic commerce involves carrying out business over the Internet with the assistance of computers, which are linked to each other forming a network. In other words, it refers to the buying and selling of goods and services and transfer of funds through digital communications.

It is a well known fact that there are a great deal of benefits associated with E-commerce.

Here is a list of just a few of the benefits that are associated with e-commerce:

1) Factors such as time and distance are no longer a huge worry

2) The direct cost for sale of items are lower than the way traditional sales are made

3) It is the cheapest means for doing business. (You don't have to worry about the cost of rental space and electricity bills or hiring staff to attend to the store.)

Here is an example of a company that benefited greatly from E-commerce:







The video basically shows how dustbag.co.uk benefited from e-commerce. They were able to close down their retail store and move their business online. Aside from cutting costs and seeing and increase in sales, they are doing so well that they plan to expand their business outside of UK into Europe.

Businesses obviously benefit from e-commerce, but they aren't the only ones benefiting. Consumers benefit from it too.

- Buyers enjoy a reduction in their shorting out time. The internet makes it easy for them to locate EXACTLY what they are looking for in the shortest period of time

- It also makes it easier for them to make better buying decisions, because it is easy for them to compare and contrast the prices and availability of the required item from different sources and sellers.

- It also makes it easier for them to customise the products they buy to suit their tastes and preferences.

The Social Network (Week 4)

Last October, I managed to catch the film "The Social Network" when it was being screened in the cinemas. The film “The Social Network” is a movie about the founders of the ever-popular social networking site, Facebook, and how it all began. It takes us through the whole process of how Facebook, from its humble beginnings, became what it is today. It started off with two friends, trying to execute a simple idea, and grew to be become something so massive, that it has become such a vital tool in our everyday lives.

Personally, I felt that the movie was filmed in a very clever way. It took a potentially boring plot and managed to turn it into something worth watching. The script was witty, and the way the plot managed to weave through the past and present without confusing the audience was impressive. The actors did a fabulous job of portraying their respective roles. Jesse Eisenberg did a particularly good job of portraying the arrogant and egotistical Mark Zuckerberg.

The film was a rather memorable one because of the ever-growing significance of social networking sites such as Facebook. In today’s day and age, Facebook plays a crucial part in creating culture, and in our everyday lives. Facebook users are not just limited to a narrow age group. It spans across a large range, from young teenagers to youths to working adults and even parents and possibly grandparents as well.

Facebook has numerous functions. People use it to maintain their own personal relationships and to keep in touch with their friends and loved ones. They use it to compile pictures, and organise events and gatherings, and to keep track of birthdays. Even companies are jumping on the bandwagon, trying to use Facebook to their advantage. Aside from using Facebook as a platform for advertising, companies also use it to organise events and seminars, and some companies even use Facebook as a tool in their recruitment drives.

It is obvious that majority of us rely a great deal on Facebook. Some might even call it an over-reliance. This over-reliance on a social networking site such as Facebook creates a culture where people start to communicate more and more through mediums online, and get increasingly lazy to initiate face to face conversations and discussions.

While Facebook seems to carry more benefits than disadvantages in today's world, we have to be careful to use such social networkings sites with discretion. Abusing a tool such as this by overusing it could lead negatively impact society in the future. Essentially, social networking sites should be used to complement face to face communication, and not replace it entirely.

The Effects of Facebook on the Individual and Their Relationships with People (Week 3- CNY Week)

We all know that Facebook has affected many aspects of our lives to a large degree. Its made communication easier and had made our world seemingly smaller.
However, it is interesting to look at the impact that social networking sites like Facebok have on the individual and their relationships with people.

I did a little research on the effect that Facebook has on the personal lives of its users, particularly students and adolescent. Research shows that:

1) Facebook is definitely an important part of maintaining relationships for adolescents.
If you’re not in, you get left behind. Facebook keeps kids connected to their loved ones. For many facebook provided a way to keep in touch with high school friends and acquaintances. This was demonstrated through the fact that the most commonly used information on users’ profiles was likely to be relevant for existing acquaintances trying to find them (eg high school)

2) Studies also seem to suggest that Facebook usage was correlated to self esteem in many of its users.
Those who seemed to spend more time on Facebook somehow seemed to be more sociable.


3) Facebook gives us another avenue to communicate with each other without doing it face to face
You would thing this would be a good thing, but it turns out that this has a negative side as well. Especially when it comes to personal relationships. A recent trend of breakups occurring on Facebook has been noted. In a recent survey of 1000 fb users, 25% of the respondents found out their relationship was over by seeing it on Facebook. Now that is harsh.

4) People feel the need to make themselves seem more interesting that they actually are.
Surveys show that 35% of respondents had updated their fb status to make it seem like they had plans, when they didn’t.

Statistics such as these sometimes make you wonder if the presence of social networking sites is more of a bad thing as opposed to a good thing.