In the digital age do newspapers still have a role in your society?

As technology becomes more and more advanced, more and more things have become computerized and placed into tablets, cell phones and laptops. This led to many people actually worrying that newspaper has lost large of its popularity in the society we lived in today. So do newspapers still have a part to play in Singapore? In my point of view, newspapers do not have any significant position here in the “red dot” as we are technologically advanced and thus we do not need newspaper to be in our life anymore. Moreover, the core business model is collapsing irreversibly. Lastly, the words in the newspaper are too lengthy and thus many people do not have time to read. Hence, newspapers do not have a role to play in this digital age.

First and foremost, looking at this issue from a socialist point of view, newspapers are replaceable items and mankind can go without them. Since there is the rise in online newspapers like iToday, Flipboard and Channel News Asia, many people would rather download these apps from Android’s Google market or Apple’s App store or Windows’ Marketplaces. With these apps, they will be able to read the updated news immediately without the need to wait for the next day to read about it. Though these “red dot” is small on the world map, but we have the latest technology available in the country, thus making every local very reliant on these gadgets. There is also statistics that states that only a mere 11% of the people living in this capitalistic country who can live without these gadgets. Hence, it is nearly true to say that the fate of newspaper and its place in this city will only become lesser and lesser as the years go by. It may just need just 10 years for the newspaper to become a part of the forgettable history. Hence newspaper is not a necessity anymore in our lives and this has resulted in the fall in its importance in the countryman’s needs. Therefore, as we look at those evidence presented to us, we can say that newspapers have little role to play in this digital age.

Next, looking at this issue from an economist’s point of view, newspaper has no part to play in this age as the core business model is collapsing irreversibly The internet is destroying the traditional business model for general newspapers, and the organizational forms designed for the era of industrial production need to be replaced with structures optimized for digital production and distribution. This has caused global economic crisis to distort the analysis and it has jeopardised the futures of various high profile newspaper groups that opted to finance growth via leveraged debt; however, this is true of many industries, and should not be interpreted as a sign that the underlying business model for newspapers is broken. In addition, the global financial crisis has had hastened the underlying structural shift by encouraging advertisers and consumers to their expenditure on newspapers—and the discovery that they can live without this, means that much of this expenditure will not return of the newspaper industry. Statistics has shown that newspaper advertising revenues in the first quarter of 2009 fell 30% from their level in the first quarter of 2008. Thus it is believed that newspaper does not have a part to play in our world today.

  

Lastly, when we look from the workaholic’s point of view, the length of each article is way too lengthy and many people do not have the time to read the entire article due to the limited amount of time they have to relax. Many people work more than 9 hours per day and that most people still have to work from home, bringing their work home to complete so that they can meet the deadlines set down by their bosses. Hence many people only read the headlines of the newspaper to get the gist of the news and then leave the papers there as it is. This deficits the purpose of reading the newspaper as 44% of the world’s populations actually only read the headlines to know the summary of the entire news. Hence, it is clear to us that the time we have is very little especially so when we are living in this competitive society like Singapore. Therefore, the evidence presented to us above clearly indicated that newspaper do not have a part to play in our society.

However, looking at this issue regarding the fate of the newspaper from a politician’s point of view, we cannot see that newspapers have lost their footing in the industry as the number of people who purchases newspaper is still maintaining as The Straits Times Group is trying their best to diversify into real estate from its newspaper at a slow pace in order to ensure that they can be on par with the generation and at the same time retaining the traditions. Hence those relied solely on the sales of newspapers are still earning 75% of their profits today. To add on, a lot of people who take public transport to work every day would prefer reading the newspapers on their way to work instead of reading the news via their smartphones or tablets. One reason is because they need to face the computer for the day and it will be strenuous for them to face the computer screen for the entire day, so having a newspaper in their bag will give them another option to stay updated to the world around them.  Yes it is true, but in my point of view, many people would rather sleep on their way to their workplace than reading the newspaper as they want to have more rest given that they may have burn midnight oil the night before so they would want to catch up on their rest instead of reading on the train or the bus.

In conclusion, I believed that newspapers do not have a role to play in this technological age as we relied heavily on technological gadgets, the core business model is crumpling and that many do not have the time to spare to read the entire articles. Yes many may argue that newspaper still have a part to play but this group of people are the minorities, hence it does not clearly highlight the role that newspaper still plays in our society. Hence, newspapers have no part in our capitalist city.

How can we ensure that the economic interest of Singaporeans be protected?

As there is an influx of foreign talent into Singapore, more and more Singaporeans begin to develop a sense of insecurity in their work as they feel that they might be replaced by these foreign talents. This has prompted the government, community organisations and the private sectors to examine this problem. This essay will explain the ways in which our economic interest can be safeguarded. Firstly we can conduct more cultural exchange for the students so that they can better understand the culture of other countries, Next, we can equip our Singaporeans with a proper communication skills so that the communication can be facilitated. Thirdly, we can promote innovation among our youths so that the foreign companies will be more willing to offer us Singaporeans job in their companies. The community organisation will also liaise with the private sectors to have a probation period for both foreigners and Singaporeans in the foreign-based company that is situated in Singapore. Lastly, we can send the undergraduate to more places to intern so that they can gain more experiences in their field of work. Hence with these methods, hopefully the interest of every locals can improved instead of remaining status quo.

First and foremost, we can help ensure that the jobs available for Singaporeans remain widely spread by conducting more overseas cultural exchange to help the Singaporeans know more about the working habits of the people overseas for example China, Japan, Korea. In this way, when these students enter into the workforce after their graduation, they will be more capable and will stand out more in interviews as they will be able adapt to the various type of interviewers who could be from all parts of the world. With these experiences coupled over the years, our own Singaporeans would be able to remain competitive when it comes to job opportunities for them. For example in Serangoon Junior College, they have cultural exchange with the scholars from China and these PRC students will study with the locals for a week or two. In these two weeks, these students can interact with our local students and these can not only benefit these Chinese scholars but also our local students who can know more about the learning style of the students in  China but also their working style. Thus it will be like a stone that kills two birds. Hence, such exchange will help our Singaporeans become more competitive in jobs and thus cultural exchange is a way in which our education system can explore so that our economic interests remain protected.

Furthermore, we can look at the perceptive of improving the communication skills among our young Singaporeans thus allowing the facilitation of communication between foreigners and locals. This facilitation of speech allows us Singaporeans to understand these foreigners better and their working style which is crucial for us to know how to do to ensure that we can survive the "fight" for our jobs. More importantly, with the facilitation of communication would better able to out ourselves forward in face of the stiff competition between foreign talents and our home-grown teens as s we are able to tackle one of the root cause of why Singaporeans are not being employed today- the trust the foreign companies have based on the language we speaks. Hence through the introduction of bilingualism, we will better able to break the language barrier that is found between the foreign boss and Singaporeans. This would definitely ensure that the economic interests of the Singaporeans are being safeguarded.

Thirdly, the government can promote innovation among our youths so that the foreign companies will be more willing to offer us Singaporeans job in their companies. In the world we lived today, companies look for people who are creative, innovative and insightful so that they can better raise the standard of their companies, hence making them more competitive in their field of specialisation. Hence, by injecting innovation and creativity in our people at a young age, probably during teenage age, the locals would stand a better chance to be employed to the company. An effort to help the teens be more creative in their fields, the government introduced Project Work in Junior College to supplement the learning of the students in the junior college. Polytechnics and ITE also have projects that help their students to think out of the box. But do you think this is enough? Of course not, we should introduce more projects into the life of secondary school students. Yes indeed, the life of the secondary school students is stressful, but it can train them to maximise their time and thus developing the habit of time management which is another aspect that companies want – Quality work produced within the shortest period of time. Thus by injecting the creativity and innovation into the future pillars of our countries, we will be able to ensure that the job chances for the locals are not compromised but instead boosted.

In addition to all the measures listed above, the community organisation can also liaise with the private sectors to have a probation period for both foreigners and Singaporeans in the foreign-based company that is situated in Singapore. Many people will think that this is not very feasible as many companies from the private sectors are not very willing to do so due to their profit-earning mind-set. Hence, the community organisation can link up with the foreign based companies to conduct probation with a test of the locals’ ability. This is very essential as it allows the CEO of these companies to change their perspective of Singaporeans - that Singaporeans are lazy, Singaporeans are not as efficient as the foreign talents, Singaporeans are less capable than the rest- and it is this mind-set that we must change. Probation would be a good way to help these employers change their point of view. During this probation period, those Singaporeans under probation will receive the same wage as the foreigners. This is to ensure that some private companies would open their doors to accepting this scheme. With probation, these employers would change their belief and hire Singaporeans instead thus ensuring that our “rice bowls” are not taken away.

Lastly, we can send the undergraduate to more places to intern so that they can gain more experiences in their field of work. To ensure a higher chance of being hired, experience in the field will make a difference. Companies want competent and capable people who can help bring their company to a greater height. Hence, this is when the word “experience” comes in and this experience is very important to secure the jobs for Singaporeans. To ensure that the locals garnered enough experience, we should allow them to go for more internship during their vacations to help them experience their field of specialization, be it working as a lab assistant or an intern teacher. All these little experience garnered over the years of education will help increase their chances of being employed thus making their economic opportunities.

Looking at all the facts presented, it is clear that all the different sectors have to work together to ensure that the economic chances for all locals are clearly safeguarded. This includes the government who could ensure that students have more cultural exchange, injection of innovation into youths and internship opportunities. Community organization can equip our Singaporeans with proper communication skills and also liaise with the private sectors to have a probation period for both foreigners and Singaporeans in the foreign-based company that is situated in Singapore.

Should the government bear sole responsibility for environmental problems?

In today’s fast-paced and industrialized world, it is hardly rare to see cars on congested roads.  Clouds of smoke emerging from factories, as well as the bustling airports with the aeroplanes rapidly transporting passengers and goods between far-off countries may seem common.  What is overlooked by the average man is the negative impact that our Mother Earth experiences due to our everyday actions. Many people will say that the government should be blamed for these problems, but I personally disagree with the people say. Indeed the government allows industrialization to take place, but they are trying their best to solve these environmental problems via policies and that the citizens’ refusal to change also caused the problems not to be alleviated. Therefore, I feel that the government should not bear the sole responsibility for the environmental problems as they are not the only one who caused these harms to the environment.

Looking at the issue from an individual’s point of view, one can see that the environmental issues are caused by the government as they are the one who are responsible for the country’s industrialization. This is mostly due to the rise of consumerism and capitalism. These two big ideas are adopted by most countries and this indirectly causes the environment to be affected. Yes, the government hopes that through industrialization, the economy would improve which would benefit everyone. However, this has led to the environment being harmed – global warming has caused the average temperature to rise and this harmed the biodiversity – even though the people have not felt the impact as yet. Thus commoners will feel that the government should bear sole responsibility for they are the primary culprits for industrialization and they have the power to change it. We cannot consider the issues of who should be bear the responsibility for the degradation of the environment without looking closely at the situation in China and India. For the past two years, China and India have being industrializing at a rapid rate and their environment has being deteriorating at a speedy rate. Considering the factor presented above, we can safely ascertain that the government should bear the responsibility for the environmental crisis we faced today.

However, it is important to note that environmental problems are not only caused by the government.  The commoners should also be responsible for the environmental problems we faced. Thus by looking at the issue from an environmentalist’s point of view, one can see that the environmental issues we faced are caused by every individual through our small yet significant act of harming our Mother Earth. This is because we do these harmful acts like wasting the papers without even realizing that these acts are harmful to the environment, taking everything we have for granted. Moreover, we have the mind-set that is literally telling us that “It’s okay to do harm the environment. It’s also not us who will suffer, so why bother?” This mind-set has caused us to be selfish in our thinking and thus it resulted in us not putting others before self.  Hence the environment is harmed due to our selfish motive. Who can ever forget the incident of the haze due to the burning of forest in Indonesia whereby the Singapore PSI reading hits the 226 in year 1997? Considering the evidence presented, we can safely ascertain that the people also play a part in causing harm to the environment.

Looking in the politician’s point of view, the government should not shoulder the responsibility of the environment problems as they have already done their part by implementing the policies that will help reduce the environmental problem we faced today. However, the effectiveness of the policies will depend on the cooperation rendered by its people. Hence the government should not be blamed for it as they have already tried their best in order to eradicate this issue or reduce the impact of the problems. Take for instance, the usage of our own plastic bags every Wednesday in order to reduce the usage of plastic bags that will harm our environment. These policies may seem ineffective as it is the people who do not comply with these measures taken.  Henceforth, after considering the factor that is being presented to us, we can safely say that the government should not be the one who should carry the sole responsibility of resolving the environmental issues.

In conclusion, I feel that the environmental problems should not be blamed on the government as each individual and the efforts that the government put in to resolve this problem cannot be debated. Yes, they caused these problems to arise due to their desire to industrialize, but this is just an unexpected outcome of their attempt to make their economy strong. Therefore, the government should not bear the sole responsibility for the environmental problems.

Ageing population is always to be feared?

Looking at the economist's point of view, one can see that ageing population should not be feared as the elderly can help to improve the economy of the country. The reason for this is that they can be valuable assets that can help improve the economy of a country. No doubt these elderly will nag at times, but we must still respect them because their invaluable experience in the area of specialization is way more experienced than the younger generation and their experiences can help guide the younger generation to improve. Through their guidance, the younger generation will become more capable to deal the problem if they faced with the similar situation. This will not only help the younger generation a lot but also help the country;s economy as the output that is possibly being produced increased, thus the elderly are more of an assets to the country than a burden to the country. Japan is an example of a country who did not attempt to include their elderly in the workforce and this causes the economy of Japan to be lagged behind the key economic superpowers like America and China. This shows that having an ageing population and able to make full use of their human resources will help the economy improved instead of causing them to be less economically inefficient, thus after considering the evidence placed forward, we can safely ascertain that ageing population should not be feared as it can helps improve our shrinking economy.

‘Marriage is no longer relevant in today’s world.’ Do you agree?

Love is an emotion of a strong affection and personal attachment between the two parties. It is like a burning fire that binds both parties together. However, it seems that this so-called love does not seems to be the same as before- from love between opposite sex to love formed between the same sex - and this has turned the normal way of belief to change. It is said that it is because of true love that will lead to marriage; a binding of two into one. From recent survey done, it is believed that the word " Marriage" is no longer the main focus by both genders since they lived in a democratic nation that follows the capitalistic system. Money has instead replaced the mind sets of most people and that the traditionalists' school of thought has already changed. Many young adults this days have placed their emphasis on building their career instead of forming their families. This raises numerous speculations that is being marries still applicable in today's context. In my point of view, I still feel that it is still relevant in today's world due to four reasons - social benefits, economic benefits , they still fight for their happiness and due to religious reasons -  and because the pros will outweigh the cons, their mind sets will not cause them to be too far away from the ideas of being married to the opposite sex. Hence the idea of being in united as one will help make the young adults nowadays to thirst for an union.

Capitalism has caused many people to want to acquire more and more real income, leading to the high relevance of marriage in today's world as the economic benefits has helped “lure” the people towards making their vows during their marriage. In most families in capitalistic nations, income generation comes from both parents and with both parents working, the financial security for the women and the males will increase as there is a pooling of resources and money that is especially useful in families that reside in modern and developed cities like Great Britain, France and United States of America where the cost of living is very high. Both husband and wife need to work to contribute to household income in order to sustain and overcome the problem of high cost of living. Tax reliefs and economic incentives are also a reason why people still chose marriage. As stated above, the high of living is a worrying issue that need to be focused on and through these grants and  this concern will be better dealt with. For example, the existing housing policies favour married couples – only married couples are allowed to apply for grants and can apply for a HDB flat, but singles are only allowed to buy houses after they turned 35 years old. Yes, indeed as more and more females climbing up the social ladder, the economic benefits may seems less attractive but capitalism makes them want to marriage in order to have the economic benefits a married women will to received, hence marriage is still relevant in today’s context.

Are population problems to be feared?

Living in a capitalistic city, most of the people rank their career above all the other aspects - starting up a family, forming strong bonds with friends and maintaining good relations with their neighbours. Yes indeed, earning money is important but isn't it a bit myopic of them to do so? Being myopic is not something to be proud of, it only seems to the people around you that your awareness to the main concern of everyone is very little. The main concern of everyone is of course the country's replacement rate that we faced at the moment. In some countries, they faced ageing population, while others either faced overpopulation or under population. In these countries, their government had been constantly thinking of strategies to solve these problems. To a limited extent, these issues would be feared, but in my point of view, this phobia would be greatly reduced as more and more policies were being implemented. What I mean is that with these policies, the problem will be better dealt with. In order to consider whether it is something to fear, we need to look at four groups of nations - the developed countries, just developed nations, developing nations and the underdeveloped - as they will give us a guide on how this predicament will be resolved, leading to us not supposed to panic over this situation.

To what extent will influx of foreigners in Singapore in 5 Years

Influx of foreigners into Singapore will cause a change needed in National Education.

National Education commonly known as NE in short means to change in a way such that the students studying in Singapore will have to learn that these people that the government invited into our countries, be it to do the labour intensified or to inject creativity into our shrunk workforce. These foreigners should not be viewed by the students as an eye sore but instead they should learn that because of their entrance into Singapore, we as Singaporeans can have a fair competitive, helping the economy of Singapore to remain competitive in the world economy.

Through NE, the students will be more appreciative of the point that these foreigners have come to help us not to steal our jobs. Hence it is beneficial for us to have these influx of foreigners in to Singapore.