Chapt 5- Facebook Addict

"Facebook beats Google for Visitors"
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/technologynews/view/1044234/1/.html

Facebook is undoubtedly one of the leading websites amongst millions of other websites that prevail the world wide web. It is however, not surprising at all to know that the number of visitors frequenting Facebook beat that of Google ones. For every computer user that i spot in school or anywhere else, at least 8 out of 10 have their Facebook pages up on their browsers. However, i do not blame them for patronising their Facebook pages so often. I myself have turned into what they call a Facebook addict; I am on it every minute of my life that I am logged on to the internet; which is pretty much 4 hours of a day at the least (while the most could go up to 14). Who can blame us though? Facebook at present is the most effective,popular, well-connected and exciting source of Computer Mediated Communication(CMC) which acts as an awesome socialising network database.

Perhaps one of the reasons for its popularity is,ironically, its credibility. Unlike dubious chatrooms like IRC that was the "in" thing of the 1980s-1990s, Facebook does NOT cause a shift in the basic definition of self. Unlike IRC chat where you do not have to reveal who you are while attaining your anonymity, Facebook users mostly put up real pictures of themselves and have to be honest about who they really are. If they do not, there might be a chance that their pages could be 'flagged', or rather, reported as spam or fraudery. If they do not put real pictures of themselves however, their chances of socialising would be slim. Either way, it ends up in a lose-lose situation.

It is true that users still differentiate their VL(virtual life) and RL(real life) to a certain extent, and that it enables those who have not been able to find acceptance because of their physical characteristics in RL to be themselves online. However, these concepts are only applicable to a small extent. Facebook is more of a social networking site that ENCOURAGES you to portray who you really are in real life via pictures and information. If you do try to bluff your way through, there are many connections you would have already owned, such as your friends or family who would know about it- and that would only bring you shame of desperation. Also, on Facebook, gender bending is not very possible. First of all, it would mean putting up a photo of someone else, and that itself could lead to your profile being reported for fraudery, or worse- being sued by the owner of the photo. The other option would be not putting a photo at all, but gender bending at the same time- which would just backfire because no one would want to be friends with you if you didn't have a picture of yourself anyways.

Due to this, i partially believe that the theories that apply to CMCs might not be applicable to the techonological advances of social networking at present- it might even be a little backdated. What do you think?

Chapt 4: The most effective types of mass media

We have all seen it, heard it and even know it by heart. For most of us, it involves listening and having a glance at it at least once in a day. What i'm referring to is the television screen on every MRT station in Singapore. Personally, i can confidently say that the mobile televions on MRT stations are one of the most effective forms of channels in the country. I mean, if i were to own company or business and intended to advertise my line or product, it would be a dream come true if I were able to advertise it at the tube... can you imagine the flow of human traffic,the restless humans waiting for the train with nothing else to do but to stare at the only form of 'entertainment' there is, the number of pairs of eyes looking at your advertisements every single day? In fact, i have actually almost perfected my memorisation of the speech for the all-time advertisement, which is the advert to encourage vigilance on the MRT in case of a terrorist attack...and I am pretty sure that the rest of the regular train commuters almost have too.

Last semeseter, I was taught by a teacher who had recently flew in from New York. She once exclaimed to the class that she had gotten really frightened and extra vigilant after she witnessed the same advertisement at the platform while waiting for the train- apparently, the advertisement had made quite a big impact on her. I suppose we could apply the hypodermic needle theory here, implying that the mass media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on the audiences. Perhaps this might be true in this case, but it is only because it is an advertisement about safety and precautionary measures to take so as to avoid a mishap or a dastardly attack-every single person knows that there is a possibility of the even occuring and therefore, would take it seriously. If it were to be an advertisement for say, a beauty product, the theory might not be appropriate, as audiences are active with the ability to resist media messages. In my opinion, the hypodermic needle theory may be true to a certain extent and only applicable to certain types of media.

I suppose this issue brings about truth to Marshall McLuhan's theory that "the medium is the message". It is true to some extent that the medium is more important than the message. Imagine seeing an advertisement that exhibits the same message (about vigilance on the MRT),but instead as a poster or picture form in the papers or the magazine. First of all, viewer count will be drastically discrepant. Secondly, the audience would not think too much about it and might totally forget about the message. Displaying it on mobile televisions at the platform itself comparatively, i would say, would create quite a scare to any commuter.

Unit 3: love spelled backwards is love

I was thinking of an apt video or movie to review on regarding Relation Formation and Development, and i came across a music video by the 3rd runner up American Idol of season i'm-not-sure-what; one of the recent ones i think, this sexy dude Jason Castro. Oh what would make this dreamboat wanna fall in love again (in which i assume meaning going back to the beginning of a relationship where everything is sweet and it is the 'honeymoon period' all over again)...i could only think of a few theories that would support his decision of doing so. According to Knapp's model of Relational Development, Stages 1-5 are the stages of partners coming together.

The beginning stages 1-2 (Initiating, experimenting) are the stages that presumably make up the 'honeymoon period'. For example, in stage 1- the Initiating period, a couple is cautious and 'safe' towards each other while all the more being self conscious. Obviously at this stage, fighting ot conflicts are distant while infatuation takes over.

In stage 2 (Experimenting), the couple is just starting to get to know each other a little bit more. Similarly, love is in the air; each partner has eyes only for the other; like Jason Castro has mentioned in his song, " We'll lose track of all the time, and we'll tell everyone that we ain't never felt so alive"..awww.

I doubt stage 3 (Intensifying) is part of the "honeymoon period" package. This is because stage 3 is all about increased commitment, awareness and participation. The relationship might still be steady and going strong, but the excitement of getting to know and exploring on another might have already worn off.

What makes stages 1 and 2 the best stages of a relationship is probably the fact that a couple do not know each other well enough for conflicts and problems to arise. Furthermore, unlike stages 4 and 5 (Integrating, Bonding), there are no responsiblities, commitments and obligations involved just yet.

Well...now we know why Jason wants to fall in love again, don't we now?

Chapt 2: M18

"4 men openly molest girl at countdown party but no one helped her"

URL:http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/3552/4136/300696

I don't get the response received from this piece of news; the most common being how 'disgusted' reviewers are by these shameless and bold foreign workers and also questioning as to why no one came to her rescue, but took videos and photographs instead. What is up with the big commotion? Seriously, how do you know that this so called 'molest victim' was not actually ENJOYING it? In my opinion, the reason as to why the crowd did not bother to help her was plainly because she did not look like she needed help at all! In fact, perhaps if anyone tried to help her, she might have had just demanded the person to F off and mind his own business. Why I am so against the tabloids and the reactions from the public?

First of all, guess what they were wearing?(Refer to picture above) The 'victim' was wearing bra and panties- not even a bikini mind you. One of her friends was actually wearing a NUDE G-STRING and bra. Which self-respeciting girl would wear bra and panties out (bad enough), what more translucent ones, even to a beach party??

The picture below is proof that the girl was not in any sort of dicomfort and was enjoying herself. Check out where she gleefully slipped her hand into. Through nonverbal interpretation, it seems to me that the 'victim' was enjoying herself so much that she had to touch herself. If you were an onlooker, would you have felt the need to pull this girl off the podium or stop the guys?

Does it look like the girl is distressed in any way?



Gollee. Posing for the camera. Obviously enjoying the attention.

Another thing that i can't stand is the riles of blame aimed at the foreign workers who 'molested' her. If it were a caucasian guy who were to grope her from the back, would it still be a case of molest? Wouldn't it simply look like both of them were having fun? In actual fact, there was a caucasian guy who gyrated her and her friend from behind.
No one commented anything about that.Racism much?

So i concluded that, all this fuss is just a bad interpretation of the whole situation. Most people perceive or have a stereotyped view of foreign workers; perverse, always having bad intentions,etc. Singaporeans are so stereotyped about foreign workers that they don't even look at both sides of the story before coming to a conclusion.

Also, in terms of nonverbal communication, people have very biased thinking of a situation and tend to judge through artifacts.

Seeing a foreign worker groping a skimpy and joyful looking girl = MOLEST

Seeing a caucasian groping a skimpy joyful looking girl = KINKY

Humans can't get any more racist than this can they? People are so biased that they are totally oblivious to the nonverbal signals that the 'victim' is sending out. After reading this entry,what do you think? Do you still think she was raped and required help?

Chapt 1: Drink Drank Drunk

" BRITAIN TO BAN BINGE- DRINKING PROMOTIONS"


Britain has banned all pubs and clubs from encouraging binge drinking through advertisements that promote them which in this case, is the all-you-can-drink promotions. Through this, the advertisers have exceedingly succeeded in effectively bringing forth their message and also their intention of the message, which is supposedly in this case, inexhaustible access to alcoholic beverages. While the advertisers may have succeeded in conveying their messages to the masses, it has been frowned upon by the society. The enthusiastic response had led to a rise in alcohol-related crime which has cost Britain a hefty sum every year. I guess these are the exact sort of advertisements that succeed in purpose but fail to conform to the society's idea of what is acceptable. In my opinion however, these advertisers probably had no intention of actually promoting binge drinking, but instead simply trying to promote the sales of their alcoholic beverages in their local bars, or, trying to attract as many people into their bars as possible. I mean,I'm sure they had no bad intentions whatsoever to actually make people binge drink, run amok and then commit crimes along the streets. I am pretty sure they would have avoided having to take responsibility for the resulting crime cases as much as possible. In this case, meaning and message are not the same, resulting in miscommunication. The intention of the advertisements were to promote their beverages and pull in a crowd, but locals see it as an opportunity to drink as much as they can and get nastily drunk. In this case, maybe in actual fact, the ones to be blamed is the society instead of the advertisers. Perhaps putting up anti-binge drinking posters and launching more anti binge drinking campaigns would be a more advisable idea for Britain to pipe down its alcohol-related crimes.