Sophisticated Technology: Do we really need it?

This is an article from the Straits Times, 13th Oct. The author compared the simple telephone operator he once talked to to call his mother, but now, technology has become so advanced and sophiscated that he realized he no longer know the real function of a phone.





Is such technology really an essential in our lives? Or is it what we call demand driven technology? If you asked me, the main culprit to this wild goose chase is the media. Obviously, people would never want to buy something which they do not know about. We often see or hear about new mobile phones being introduced into the market and these ads most often painstakingly try to attract consumers. Having such ads being repeatedly shown by the means of mass media, the agenda setting function is too, being at work. The audience, gets the misconception that THIS is the trend and they should get something like that in order not to be ostracized by remaining society. People no longer think of getting they NEED, it is more of what they WANT these days.

Come on, how many of us actually need a mobile phone to stay connected with the internet at all times? Besides those who does not own a life in reality, I cannot really think of any other reasons of having that function. And when will we ever need a phone which allows us to watch movies or any videos for entertainment purposes? We have large LCD screen televisions and movie theatres for all that. Only a fool would stare at a teeny-weeny screen for hours when there are so many other alternative forms of luxurious viewing sensations. However, we seldom negative comments as mentioned in advertisements, this, once again, proves the biasness of the media. Mass media has the ability to take over the minds of the consumers and allow them to perceive what is being portrayed in the broadcasted ads. This may not happen overnight but it alters the mindsets of the audience indirectly and gradually, as said in the cultivation theory.

Spending unecessary money on things that we do not need is being pure wasteful, especially when we are about the go through an economic crisis. People should be careful with what is seen on the media, for some of these messages are biased towards whoever benefits the media and make consumers buy the desired products. Just remember, think carefully before taking a stand and not be a slave of the media!

Difference in Slang Helped Crack the Case...

"Culture if the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another...includes systems of values and values."

Geert Hofstede

CONNECTED the movie

I watched this movie with a friend a couple of days ago. I heard it is a Hong Kong remake of a Hollywood blockbuster, too bad I have no idea what the original title of the movie is. In the movie, the victim Grace Wong managed to seek help after being kidnapped simply by fixing a smashed-beyond-hope telephone. Telecommunication is used throughout the show and I thought that "Wow! I didn't know communication can do such wonders!"


Since we covered intercultural communication in class this week, I am going to highlight one of the most awesome scene in this movie. A low-rank policeman realized the victim was in trouble when he visited her house and was greeted by a foreigner. He then dialled the house number and realized there was a difference in accent between the foreign woman and the phone recorded voice. The distinction between culture shows that those are two different people and that one of them is a fake. Accents of slangs are good examples of high context cultures in my opinion. It gets the receiver thinking before coming up with his or her own conclusion about a situation.

Also, this movie is produced in a different context compared to the original one. The people working behind the scenes tried their very best to make it fit into the Hong Kong culture since filming will take place in Hong Kong. It is logical to do so since the setting are cast of actors and actresses are from Asia, namely Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. This shows that there is still vast difference between Asian and Western culture even though globalization has allowed us to exchange and share our cultures with other regions.

Well, that is all I have to share about the movie, hope you guys will try to catch it over the weekends since mid-terms are OVER!!! Anyway, this is something extra for everyone, a scenario which I witnessed myself in the cinema right after the movie ended. A girl who was sitting behind my row of seats was insulting a couple of Chinese nationales badly and using rude phrases like "~!@#$%^&*", "Go back to your own country!", "*&^%$#@!~", etc. Clearly, she is displaying her displeasure for the strong accent in their mandarin even though those people was not disturbing her in the first place. Her intolerant attitude is exactly what we refer as attitudinal barriers to intercultural communication:

• She holds prejudices against those Chinese and finds fault with them. Every little thing that they do highly irritates her. (I was there throughout the show and they only talked a minimal amount.)
  
• She is ethnocentrism, believing that her mandarin accent/culture (Singaporean, I reckon) is better than the Chinese, even though she does not have anything to proof for that.
  

Communication is everywhere...

I have just realized that principles of communication is abundant in the world we live in. This also applies to japanese animations, or anime. Please enjoy a short clip from first episode of the series titled "Ouran High School Host Club" before you continue reading.



If you asked me, I would say the producers of this video cleverly uses communication techniques to draw the attention of the audience. First of all, the qualities of selections are applied appropriately. The line which informs the viewers about Ouran Academy and its host club is being repeated at the start of every subsequent episode. The high frequency of replaying that line shows that emphasis is placed on the host club which is made up of hosts and clients (both being students of the high school) from wealthy and prestigeous families. At 4:24, the character dressed in plain clothing (Fujioka Haruhi) is illustrated in grayscale, in contrast to the six hosts around her to show how stunned and shocked she was. Figure and ground also exists as Haruhi's casual home clothings is not appropriate for attending school, especially for such a high-end academy. She must have been easily spotted among other students who wore school uniform.

The six hosts of the club are victims of the Idols of the cave. Since Haruhi came from a poor family and depended on a scholarship to get into the academy, they downgraded her as their "dog" in order to pay off her debts. This proves that they are prejudiced against commoners and readily treat them as their slaves just because they are poor. Besides, being rich and gorgeous-looking has become personal contructs of the hosts who manipulates their good looks and earn profits from their clients. One gets accepted into the club as a host if only he fulfills those criteria. Contrary to the assumption of the hosts, Haruhi is actually a girl, which will be soon revealed in the following parts of the episode. The hosts simply assumed her for being a boy because she violates their prototypes of an average girl, normally seen in dresses and long hair. Meanwhile, honey-senpai who is supposed to be a high school senior appears to be petite in size and speaks in a high-pitched voice. Such unexpected twists in the storyline greatly entertains the audience, not forgetting the sense of humour of it.

The instant coffee scene implies that miscommunication occurs when people have different cultural backgrounds, in this case, the commoners and the high-status class. Those rich brats did not know what instant coffee powder is and even regarded it as novelty, fortunately, not despising it. Misunderstandings and misinterpretation could be avoided if the sender has the receiver in mind while passing on a message. Among the non-verbal cues found in this video, the most repeatedly used is the objectics. The elegant decor of the whole academy implies that students should behave with proper etiquette in that place. Antique furnishing of the club room mirrors their luxurious lifestyles and the profit they have made from club activities. Lastly the most important of all, the roses are seen to have appeared many times throughout the episode signifies the worship for beauty and grace.

Although so much have been said, there are many other non-verbal cues and whatnots which have not yet been pointed out. Most people would have watched through the whole series but not give much thought to the nitty-gritty principles applied in the making. It seems like the principles of communication exists everywhere, even where we least expected it to be. So, try to take note of your surroundings and explore more new and interesting forms of stimuli!