Problem-Solution Essay Draft 4

With the recent rise of many social media platforms, it is of no surprise that social media addiction is fast becoming a problem. People with this problem tend to have a compulsive urge to surf social media excessively, to the extent that it affects their daily activities. According to an info graphic compiled by Go-Globe in 2014, there were 2.03 billion active social media users worldwide, which was a 28% global penetration. In Singapore, one of the most wired places in the world, there was a 62% active social media penetration in 2014. This figure is more than double the global penetration. Focusing on youths of ages 15 to 35, a study by Singapore Polytechnic (2013) has shown that they spend at least 5 hours a day online on average. It is easy to see how this amount of time can spiral out of control. Even more shocking is the fact that many are unaware that they are even addicted. Currently, there are treatments to help people kick their addiction to social media. However, prevention is better than cure. To prevent social media addiction amongst youths, the root cause must first be tackled, and this can be done by having the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) collaborating in educating the youths.

Addiction to social media can be attributed to the release of dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter associated with motivation and reward response in the human brain, whenever a user receives and answers a notification. (Franceschi-Bicchierai, 2012) However, this instant gratification comes with more dire effects than expected for youths. It is affecting them in various aspects of life. Since youths are still schooling, being addicted to social media can negatively affect their grades. They may be so fixated on checking for updates that their attention span decreases, making it hard to concentrate on their work or during lessons. It is ironic that social media were created to connect people more easily, but instead, they have caused us to be socially isolated and, made us lonelier than ever. Youths who are addicted to social media often have the illusion that online interaction equates to companionship, when in actual fact, it lacks the intimacy and friendship involved in the latter. Some even deem it to be of greater importance than face-to-face interaction. These youths are more prone to being obsessed with the virtual world, thereby straining their familial ties and friendships. Self-esteem issues are also a concern for those addicted. It was found that youths who spent more time online experienced more frequent feelings of inadequacy due to constant comparison with their peers on social media. (Guttmann, 2013).

The Singaporean government has identified that social media addiction can be a serious problem amongst youths. Currently, there are two counselling centres available that help with all forms of digital addiction. They are the National Addictions Management Services (NAMS) and TOUCH Community Services. Their services range from helplines, counselling sessions and education campaigns. The counselling sessions provided by NAMS seem to be very comprehensive. Not only do they have a clinic that specialises in adolescents, they also have a well-rounded team consisting of professional counsellors, psychiatrists, psychologists, family therapists and medical social workers. (NAMS, n.d.). The treatment starts with an assessment of condition, which then is followed by individual counselling and group therapy, and finally, family therapy. (NAMS, n.d.). Youths addicted to social media have very high chances of recovery when exposed to such an extensive treatment. On the other hand, TOUCH Community Services focus on awareness campaigns pertaining to different education levels under their TOUCH Cyber Wellness. They strive to encourage students to make “informed and responsible decisions in the cyber space”. (TOUCH Cyber Wellness, n.d.). These campaigns are highly interactive and tailored to the needs of specific age groups, making them effective in grabbing students’ attention.

Despite these existing services, the main problem remains that youths do not even know the symptoms of social media addiction well enough to realize that they need such treatments. Other than those who are forced by their parents to go for counselling, many youths that are in need of help are still oblivious as to how social media addiction is affecting them. They deem their behaviour to be the norm of their generation, since their peers seem to be doing the same as well. Even though there are education programmes that are implemented in schools, such as those by TOUCH Cyber Wellness, to create awareness among youths, their curricula are mostly centered around problems like gaming addiction and cyberbullying rather than social media addiction. This is why there needs to be a collaboration between MCI and MOE to come up with a more versatile awareness campaign that focuses on the traits and impacts of social media addiction so that youths can better identify themselves and take charge of their treatment. They can then recover from their addiction faster since they voluntarily went for counseling instead of being forced to do so.

In conclusion, social media addiction is an emerging problem that impedes the growth of our youths. It is a 21^st Century issue that needs to be solved before it evolves into something even more menacing, and the best way to do so would be by having a cooperation between MCI and MOE to create awareness of the issue amongst youths.  

(892 words)

References

Franceschi-Bicchierai,L. (2012, November 3). How is Facebook Addiction affecting our minds? [Infographic] Mashable. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2012/11/03/facebook-addiction/

GO-Globe. (2014, December 26). Social media addiction- Statistics and Trends. [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.go-globe.com/blog/social-media-addiction/

Guttmann, G. (2013). How does social media affect your life? [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://singapore.angloinfo.com/information/lifestyle/articles/social-media-addiction/

ReLive - Clinic for Adolescents. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nams.sg/services/Pages/Clinic-for-Adolescents.aspx

Sim, F. (2013, January 11). S'pore youths spending more time online: study. Yahoo! News. Retrieved from https://sg.news.yahoo.com/s-pore-youths-spending-more-time-online--study-100333925.html

Statista. (2014). Active social media penetration in Asian countries in October 2014 [Data file]. Retrieved from http://www.statista.com/statistics/255235/active-social-media-penetration-in-asian-countries/

Touch Community Services. (n.d.). TOUCH Cyber Wellness. Retrieved from http://www.touch.org.sg/touch_cyber_wellness

TOUCH Cyber Wellness. (n.d.). Educate. Retrieved from

http://www.planetcrush.org/programmes/educate.htm

Reader Response Draft 4

According to Morozov (2015) in “Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom-China, Russia, or the US?”,  the US should be given the same amount of criticism, if not more, than Russia and China have received over the issue of internet privacy. He reasons that by claiming Russia and China are only accessing data from their own people while the US is trying to access data by anybody anywhere as long as these data pass through US companies. His conclusion is that Russia and China are executing strict censorship not only to curb public disorder, but more importantly, to protect themselves against US assertive technological policies. While Morozov’s article has painted Russia and China in an undeserving positive light, the US is rightly being criticised for their inability to uphold their image as the spokesperson for “internet freedom”.

It is true that the US is stepping over the line with its surveillance programs. It has always been the advocate for freedom and privacy, but instead, in the context of information sovereignty, is doing the opposite. The US law has the Fourth Amendment with the goal to prevent government intrusion into its citizens’ privacy. However, it is apparently fine for it to break this constitutional amendment as long as the crime is not discovered by the public. If the government is truly law-abiding like it claims to be, it will need no reason to hide these programs. The National Security Agency has been keeping track of every form of communication data from US citizens with the excuse of preventing terrorist attacks. As Zetter (2014) aptly summarized the negative effects of US's information technology policies, "in the name of security [against terrorist attacks], we’re trading away not only privacy, but also the U.S. tech economy, internet openness, America’s foreign policy interests and cyber-security.” After Edward Snowden’s disclosure of the US’s global and domestic surveillance programs, it is embarrassing for the US to criticize other countries now for their so-called “internet freedom”. 

However, it is naïve for Morozov to suggest that Russia and China are only trying to gather information within their territories. It is not astonishing to find out that almost all countries do secret surveillance of other countries, if they have the technology for it. China has been bombarded with complaints due to cyber-attacks done by Chinese hackers and the suspicion that these hackers are state-sponsored. Just recently, Chinese hackers are pinpointed as the culprit behind the theft of personal information of at least 80 million customers of US health-care company Anthem (Stout, 2015). Even though the Chinese government has denied involvement with these Chinese hackers, this may be because no leakers have exposed them yet. This is a similar scenario to that of the US. The US government has tried to repudiate accusations of infringing on the rights of nations and individuals until they were proven to be guilty.

Morozov gave me the impression that he believes the quest for digital sovereignty by China and Russia is mostly to “de-Americanize” rather than to clamp down on internal unrests and unhappiness. Actually, the latter is a more important goal than the former. China, as an example again, has already started to “de-Americanize” by creating its own alternatives to most of the communication technologies created by US companies. If China only wanted to stop the US from using their citizens’ data without permission, it would have stopped there. Having a whole domestic sphere of communication platforms has made it easier for it to carry out censorship too. However, the Chinese government still chooses to focus more on censorship within the Chinese media rather than pushing the US communication companies out of their territory. This shows that for China, controlling domestic affairs is a more critical factor behind its digital sovereignty compared to protecting itself against US’s aggressive surveillance.

In general, Morozov did an excellent job in bringing the US's aggressive policies to light. It is a pity that he did not put China, Russia and the US on the same comparative scale with regard to internet privacy throughout his arguments. Nevertheless, this article was a great read to help me get in perspective the various powers’ situation in the struggle for digital sovereignty.

(700 words)

References:

Morozov, E. (2015, January 4). 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

Riley, M., & Robertson, J. (2015, February 6) Chinese state-sponsored hackers suspected in Anthem attack. Bloomberg. Retrieved from: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-05/signs-of-china-sponsored-hackers-seen-in-anthem-attack

Stout, D. (2015, February 5). China hackers may be responsible for the anthem attack, reports say. Time. Retrieved from: http://time.com/3698417/china-anthem-hack-healthcare/

Zetter, K. (2014, July 29). Personal privacy is only one of the costs of NSA Surveillance. [web log post] Retrieved from: http://www.wired.com/2014/07/the-big-costs-of-nsa-surveillance-that-no-ones-talking-about/

Critical reflection

Throughout the whole course, a tutor and peer feedback system was emphasized and carried out. We had to read our peers' essays carefully and give comments. This forced me to read critically as it would be embarrassing to give incorrect advice. Not only that, I had to read up beforehand on the criteria we were supposed to evaluate on, such as grammar. By being more aware now, I began to apply the same writing skills that I used to evaluate my peers’ essays on when I am writing my own essay. I liked that for each draft, we have different partners for the feedback session instead of just commenting within our blogging groups. It allowed us to read different styles of writing and also, gained new perspectives from different people. After each draft is submitted, there will be a feedback template given that is specific to that essay so that we can better evaluate our peers' works. Other than peers' feedback, Brad will also give us his own comments about our essays. Initially, I felt very reluctant about the whole system, as it seemed to be pointless. However, after experiencing a few rounds of feedback, I began to see the importance of it. It was also very encouraging to receive words of praise, even if they were as simple as a "good job". I learnt that no matter how much time you spent crafting your essay into perfection, there would still be mistakes unseen by yourself and improvements to be made. It is necessary to be humble and not brush off others' suggestions without any considerations. From this experience, I was able to be more aware of my grammar, arguments, and essay structure during the writing process. Since this system has been useful to me, I will ask and give my peers feedbacks as well in the future.