Symbolic meaning of technology

I have read one of the chapters of the book, “Media, Modernity, and Technology: The Geography of the New”.  That chapter is mainly talking about the symbolic function of the technology. Therefore, in this blog, I would like to focus on discussing the symbolic perspective of the technology.

Usually, people mainly focus on the rational function of technology, such as using mobile phone to talk with other, using computer for doing homework. In the book, author used computer as one of the example to illustrate that there are symbolic meaning of technology. Computer is a really common nowadays. However, in the past, computers were still rather new and uncommon. Computers have been sold domestically as the key technology of access to knowledge.  It symbolized educated, civilized, and intelligent. It doesn't only imply knowledge, but also implies modern and ahead of others, because technology is something expensive and complicated at that time. It brings one more meaning to it. 

From my point of views, smart phones also may symbolize particular kind of cultural identity of the owner. Smart phone is an icon of the new. People who own a phone means he or she is in the trend of the generation.

Besides, a mobile phone is also a tool to reflect particular styles. The color, design, materials of the phone reflects the owners’ style and character. Therefore, people started to pay attention to the outlook of the phone than the function of it. Some people may have decorative stickers on their mobile phones or order a beautiful phone case to match their phone. By doing so, they can distinguish themselves from the others or make the phone more unique. The similar situation also emerges in Hong Kong. Hong Kong youngsters seem to be more emphasis on the style reflection function of phone. For girls, part of them may stick some sparkling elements on the smart phone cases. Not only can they attract people’s attention including strangers and friends, but they can also gain recognition within certain social circles.

In addition, a phone is a powerful symbol of the owner’s status. For instance, it is easy to distinguish one’s financial ability to see he is using iphone or Nokia phone. So, some people will sacrifice themselves financial burden to buy an expensive phone in order to hide its financial status.

In conclusion, modern technology not only have its real function, but sometime it also has been attached some symbolic meaning.

References:

David Morley. (2007) “Magical Technologies. The New, the Shiny, and the Symbolic.” In: Media, Modernity, and Technology: The Geography of the New.

Film sharing----"The Cove"

I watched a documentary called The Cove in past few days, and I was shocked and impressed by the scene in this documentary. Therefore, in my third blog, I would like to share my opinions about it. .

The Cove is a documentary which illustrated the dolphins hunting situation in Taiji of Japan. Dolphins that being hunted are mainly sold to the Marine Parks all around the world for entertainment or being killed for eating purpose. This film hoped to raise people’s awareness about the dolphins’ protection and call for the action to stop the slaughtering and trading of dolphins in Japan.

The film indicated that the trading of dolphins brought huge profits to the local people. Dolphin which sold to marine parks for the dolphin shows worth $150,000 each. There are also dolphin performances every day in the Ocean Park in Hong Kong. People are entertained but dolphins are suffered a lot because of it. Dolphin actually felt very painful while in captivity as they are very sensitive to the sound and the filtration system in those marine parks are noisy, so made they feel stressful and this killed them. Therefore, trading of dolphins between Taiji and marine parks around the world and the dolphin shows should be banned. Apart from selling dolphin to the marine parks, the fishermen hunted it for making dolphin meats. However, there is high level of mercury in dolphin meats. It is toxic and will harm human health. Thus, people should stop selling and consuming dolphin meats.

The scene that dolphins are being bounded together by a net in a cove and the fishermen used spear and knife to kill the dolphins made me feel shocked and grieved. Dolphin’s blood stained the cove and it became red. It is a very bloody and cruel process. I cannot imagine how the people can treat dolphin like this. I believe this heart wrenching scene can let the Japanese and people all around the world know what is happening in Taiji and raise their awareness about protection of dolphin as well as the biodiversity.

 

The number of dolphins that being caught and killed every year are astonishing. I opine that the Japan local government should bear the responsibility for this problem. Because of their cover-up of the cruel hunting practice of the fishermen, fishermen killed more and more dolphin in order to gain economic benefits from it. As shown in the film, ordinary people in Japan did not know the truth that 23,000 dolphins are killed for meet and some of them even do not know that there are dolphin meats in the market. Furthermore, environment activists, like Ric O'Barry are being threatened to stop the investigation by police and the government officials in Taiji. I think that International community and the NGOs should follow up this serious problem and urge the Japanese government to solve it as soon as possible. The traditional thought of the fishermen should be changed and policy should be formulated to forbid the large-scale hunting of dolphin.

All in all, I think that we should not sacrifice the ecology for the purpose of pursuing huge economic profits. It is because the damaged ecosystem takes a long time to recover or even could not be recovered.  If people continued the large-scale slaughtering of dolphin, dolphins might be extincted. We have to strike a balance between the economic development and environmental protection. Not only in Japan, but also other countries ought to prohibit large-scale hunting of dolphin and the dolphin performance in Marine Park in order to protect the dolphin.

Long working hours in Hong Kong

Nowadays, most of employees are suffering from long workings hours in Hong Kong. It is very common that employees need to work overtime in all industries. The working hours in Hong Kong is comparatively longer than other countries. According to the data from the Hong Kong Census and Statistic Department, there are more than 40% of workers in Hong Kong work more than 48 hours per week. We can see the problem of long workings hours is really serious in Hong Kong. Suffering from long working hours lead to a lower living quality since it imposes negative influences on both physical and mental aspects.

Negative impacts on physical health

Suffering from long working hours can definitely physically harm the health of employee. A research was published in 2012 found out that people who worked long hours has a 1.8-fold increase in coronary heart disease than people who are not. Besides, employees can more easily to get injuries when they need to work for long hours. Human error is easily occurring when people are exhausted. For instance, employees who are working in kitchen may easily get incised injury or scald etc.

 Negative impacts on mental health

Apart from that, long working hours could badly affect the mental health of the employee. The problem of long working hours may lead to work family conflict. If employees are suffered from long working hours, the time that they can spend with their family will be definitely decreased. Besides, employees will be exhausted after the overtime working. They may have less energy to interact and communicate with their family members when they back home. The family relationship may be harmed in this way since their family members may not understand why they must spend so much time on working. This may make employees feel stressed and harm their health.

Importance of work-life balance

Therefore, I opine that maintaining a work-life balance is very important. We should split out time and energy for work and family more equality. For example, we could develop a calendar for work and family and stick to it. Besides, we should have a better time management and work more efficiently. Earning money is important but family support and having a good relationship with family members is also essential for us.

In conclusion, we can see that long working hours can impose long term consequences to the employees on both physical and mental aspects. We can also see the importance of maintaining a good work-life balance. Without the support of the companies and employers, it is hard for the employees to achieve it. Therefore, I believe that the government and the companies should limit the working hours of the employees and support the employees to have a healthier and balanced life. 

Sources:

Hk.epochtimes.com, (2015). 香港人工每週工作逾60小時-香港大紀元.

http://hk.epochtimes.com/b5/8/7/18/85337.htm

Leviticus, J. and Leviticus, J. (2015). The Effects of Long Work Hours

http://www.ehow.com/info_8319760_effects-long-work-hours.html [Accessed 22 Nov.

2015].

Stereotypes of men and women

The first blog is about the stereotyping. Stereotypes of men and women means that people based on the difference of gender, make assumption about their abilities and personality and have a set of belief on what are the proper behavior, social roles, abilities and personality of them. It might bring negative effects to the society. Nowadays, the impacts of the stereotypes of men and women become less significant, there are still stereotypes everywhere in our society.

These stereotypes might not be true and reflected reality. For example, people think that men are more capable than women in workplace. These thought is not true. Gender is not a factor that could affect the working ability. In fact, there are also good female leaders, for example, more and more female CEO nowadays. However, majority of the CEO are still men.  According to Fortune, only 25 companies in the Fortune 500 are run by women. It shows that stereotyping is still affecting women’s work.

It might also affect our expectations on others and ourselves and thus affect our behavior and decision. For example, men is good at calculation and logic, so they tend to study mathematics or science subjects, while women is good at language, so they tend to study the subjects of Arts. Some parents also not allow their children to do the jobs that are not fit with their gender. For example, girls should not be a football player because it is too masculine. It would affect people’s work choice and the career development.

Besides, the stereotypes forms pressure and affects people mental health. For example, people think that men should be strong and tough, they cannot cry, so some male tend to not share their feelings with others. Thus, men cannot vent their pressure properly and might have mood disorders easily.

From my point of views, it is unfair to have a fixed impression or assumption about a person just because of its gender. I think some of these stereotypes underestimated people’s ability. Therefore, I think that we should not be limited by these stereotypes and should develop our potential and talent according to our own personality and ability.

Fortunately, the society is kept on improving. In the past, people thought that men should be the breadwinner, taking in charge of external matters, while women should take care of domestic matters. Nowadays, it becomes more and more common that men would stay at home and take care of the children and housework, while their wife would go to work. Society is more opened and individuals’ choices are being respected. We should adopt an objective and open attitude towards the issue about men and women and stop those stereotyping. It is hoped that, the negative impacts that brought by stereotyping in the society could be reduced.

Source

Why so few women are CEOs (in 5 charts)

http://fortune.com/2015/01/14/why-so-few-women-ceos/