Are you sure its still the same?

The functions of the mass media have changed dramatically over the years. The mass media, especially the Internet, have globalised and changed over the many decades. It had given people an avenue to express their views freely but only to a certain extent depending on their society.
I have read TODAY on 17 October 2008 that the internet has been part of our lives. Statistics show that 60% are average daily users. Watching movies, making online friends, playing games are some reasons for why we log on the net for. The four media functions are surveillance, correlation, cultural transmission and entertainment. However, I believe that it does not stop there. This is because we can now take the role of providing news through the net. An example would be Strait Time Moblie Online Print aka STOMP. It’s a website where there is lots of discussion and sharing.

The internet seems very wonderful where its a global platform where ideas and information flourishes furthermore we could be part of it. However there is a downside of it, due to our manipulation it had become a tool which we use to commit undesirable acts. I read an article on 13 October 2008 show how the Internet contributes to crimes. Cyber-bully cases are on the rise in Singapore. Statistics in 2006 revealed that 25% have been victimized through the Internet. We can be emotionally disturbed because of the comments we seen on the Internet. Internet users can easily attack anyone as they are anonymous and unidentified. They feel a sense of satisfaction when posting rude and insulting comments about you as they might be timid in real life. Victims will feel insecure but could not do much about it. This again, brings satisfaction to the attacker. This clearly shows the power of the Internet.

However in Singapore blogs are closely watched because we are a multiracial country and racial riot is a constant threat we face. A significant incident to illustrate would be the conviction of a teenager blogger in 2005. He faced 7 charges of sedition. He had post racist comments on his blog specifically targeting the Malay community. He was sentenced to probation rather than jail due to his age and clean record. This had sent a very strict message throughout Singaporean and that is that the government has zero tolerance to racism. This is pertaining to Singapore and different country would want to censor certain part of the internet so as to protect its own interest. Take for example the almighty search engine google have to circum to the different sets of policies dished out to them by different country. Hence it is due to human nature that such rules have to be put in place to give the internet some sort of order.

Singapore is constantly on alert to take down and threatening post or activity on the internet. She has organization working around the clock to monitor the internet because it can be a very good helper but also a formidable enemy. Nonetheless we would still continue exploiting the power of the internet but we must exercise responsibility when we post things in the internet. We should be mature when using the internet and it would serve us well.

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