Technology

Technology can be defined as a tool that is created from scientific knowledge, in which the purpose of technology is to make our life more easier in communicating and educating them to improve the country's economy, politic, and social. Technology can be seen in many forms, either social media, mobile phones, laptops, computers, and any other machinery. Although technology provides a lot of benefits to society and the country, they also provide some drawbacks. For the past centuries, technology is created for solving a certain problem that is difficult for a human. As technology advances even further they also create problem toward society, unemployment are very common nowadays where technology replaces labor. Another problem that technology does is providing many entertainments toward society, entertainment can be view as beneficial as well as having drawbacks. Where entertainment can be seen as a stress reliever, however at the same time they also provide addiction toward a society which leads people to be lazy. By distancing themself from the close one due to technology obsession may damage their relationship with their close one, which is families and friends.  

One of the questions that my friend ask me is, what do you know about Cambridge Analytica? I have never heard or read of that word before and I never knew what is the meaning of Cambridge Analytica. Until recently, after I have read a certain article I can define Cambridge Analytica as gathering information and data through social media to become the target of the marketing section. Using a social media platform to research further about consumer preference and advertise the product through social media, which is beneficial for many businesses to attract more consumers.

Digital detox is referring to not touching our mobile phone, laptop, or computer for a certain period of time. Some people would be fine in doing it, due to they have control over themselves and have no addiction toward electronic. However, some people find it difficult to do it due to they are already addicted to the use of electronic. I also have an addiction toward electronic and it is difficult to overcome addiction as it takes a gruesome process. If I were participating in digital detox I don't think I can go through with it and even it was only for just one day.

There is an expression of "boon or bane", where technology can be boon or it can be a bane. In my point of view, technology is a boon because without technology our world could not be this great where people can get proper education with the help of technology, and it also improves countries condition. There is a phrase that I always believed in "no glory without sacrifice", where addiction is the drawback which representing the word as sacrifice and glory are representing this era where technology helps to develop country's economy, and politic as well as influencing globalization in a positive way. As the benefit is outweighing the drawbacks.

Alan M. Eddison said: "Modern technology...owes ecology...an apology.", this phrase is referring to the production of technology damage the environment. I agree with this statement, where a certain chemical substance is produced during the production of the technology which can be deadly toward the environment.

Social Media

Social media are essential to our everyday life, where social media are perceived as a tool to communicate, sharing information, and establishing relationship indirectly with other people. Social media also provide a sense of community toward people who are interested in a certain topic that they would like to talk about. Nowadays, social media can be access everywhere, where they only required a good internet connection and a gadget to access social media platforms.

In a sense of purpose, social media is the most helpful tool as well as an addiction toward our health, physically and mentally. However, the benefit of social media is outweighing the drawback of the use of social media. The biggest positive thing about having social media is that information is easily accessible and allowing us as users to share our knowledge with other users. Allowing users to learn as well as growing their knowledge in the long run which may be useful in the future and improving a country's economic, politic, and others. Despite the benefit that social media has provided us, but it also provides drawbacks to society. Generally speaking, social media also provides many entertainments toward users, which leads users to be addicted to social media and causing them to have an unhealthy lifestyle. Even for me, as the user of social media, I also have an addiction toward social media and it is very difficult for me to overcome them. 

Identity in social media can be interpreted in various kind of way, as some users would reveal their identity too much, some users would reveal their identity a little bit, and others would remain anonymous. It is very common for people to freely express their opinion on social media. However, expressing too much is not good in the eyes of many users on social media and it may also give away your identity. Where are some users who are curious about your identity may hack into your account and post it on social media. There are others who like to become someone else and play around with their identity, I think this is a bad thing to do on social media especially for the person who does it. By imitating someone, you can manipulate users to believe that you are someone else that is popular which may provide some popularity toward the person who did it. However, it can also be backfired due to there are users who like to hack into someone's account and revealing their real identity and this situation may lead to cyberbullying.

To some extent, I believe social media can bring people together externally and at the same time, social media can also keep people farther apart. The meaning of externally is that social media can connect with people from different geographical locations. However, the use of social media can also affect internally, where the meaning of internally can be defined as someone who is very close to you which is families and friends. In my point of view, social media can create communities that bring people together, but it can also damage their relationship with someone closer to you which are families and friends.

Social media can change people's behavior in a physical and mental way, for me personally, social media changes the way I behave in class or during my study time. Just like what I have said before social media have many entertainments that can be difficult for me to not get distracted. Some people may experience much more, but I believe that social media is becoming a part of my distraction which leads me to have a difficult time focusing on my studies or during class. 

Some people may have privacy concerns in social media, where it is a concern that an unidentifiable user is accessing your personal information. It is common for people to have concerns over their personal information. However, in my standpoint of view, I only use the social media platform that is used by many users as I believe that a popular social media platform has a stronger security system that is difficult to bridge. It is more reliable to use social media that are used by many users, which leads me to believe that popular social media can keep your personal information safely.   

The way I overcome my social media addiction is by putting my phone far away as possible, especially during class or my study time. I would put my phone in my bag or put it somewhere that is difficult for me to reach. There are times when I ask my friend to keep my phone until I have finished all of my work and it is very difficult. Since our brain could not adapt quickly in term of not using social media, which lead people to experience the urge of using social media as their break time. However, it is possible to resist but it requires time as well as energy to stop the urge of using social media 

Unemployment

Unemployment is a common word that has been happening to every country in the world, even in my own country also experiencing unemployment problems. unemployment can be defined as a person who does not have any job or seeking employment. The prosperity of a country is determined by the level of income that is produced by the country, where a country reaches its full potential the employment rate is high in those particular countries. However, every country would face certain challenges in reaching prosperity, and unemployment is one of the hindrances. Each country may experience different kinds of unemployment and how they resolve unemployment issues. In Indonesia, unemployment is a very serious problem that leads the country to have low income. Indonesia's government's biggest concern is that they don't have any job available, which leads to an increase in unemployment. Since the Indonesia economy is located in the capital city, Jakarta. Which lead people to migrate from a rural area to Jakarta to find more job opportunity causing more unemployment in Jakarta. Other factors that cause unemployment is the high usage of machinery rather than labor, due to some company believe that machine is more productive than labor, and they are less likely to make a mistake. In the long run, the machine is most likely to dominate the workplace and decreasing the employment rate.    　

Increasing the unemployment rate can cripple the country's economy as well as the person. As the country lose some of the contributions to the economy in term of goods and services. High unemployment can cause homeless, where unemployment causes loss of earning. This leads the country to face more crime and vandalism, due to they are unemployed and have no money. Furthermore, unemployment can also devastate the business as well due to unemployed people unable to purchase goods and services, which lead decrease the GDP and slowly affecting countries economy.

If the amount of unemployment rate is high, then it is most likely to brain drain due to people need money to survive. Without a job, they could not earn any money, which leads people to emigrate to another country or places that have higher chances of getting employed. Where brain drain is referring to a person who studies abroad to get a better education and work in other countries that have higher opportunities of employment.

In my opinion, seeking opportunities in a market is a very important aspect which allows you to have a better opportunity. Different job has different qualification and requirement, where certain country have their own needs and wants. Certain skills that are needed to have better opportunities are gaining experience and knowledge from a part-time job or other things that provide experience. It is very important in competing with other people who also want to have a job. Lack of experience are more likely for a person to be unemployed. The government can reduce unemployment by having population control, as well as encouraging the company to be more labor base. Providing a certain advantage toward company that is labor base rather than machinery. 

Losing Important Natural Resources

Indonesian is a develope country that contains 18,307 islands and it is home to more than 300 ethnic groups. Under the leadership of Joko Widodo, Indonesia has implemented a long term goal that improves the economic growth of the country. From 2014 until now, Joko Widodo has been prioritizing infrastructure development, where Joko Widodo believes that infrastructure is the most important factor in boosting the Indonesia economy. However, for the last couple of years, Indonesia has been developing too quickly, which lead the Indonesian natural resources to be depleted very quickly. These factors are mainly caused by the countries population, where Indonesia's natural resource could not sustain the amount of population in the country. As the population kept on increasing, so does the demand for more resources. 

Deforestation is one of the many problems in Indonesia, either in the form of human activities or natural causes. There various reasons why deforestation happens in Indonesia, from the expansion of space to exploiting resources. Expansion of space can be divided into three factors, a need to grow resources, the need for shelter, t and the need for infrastructure. Growing resources is referring to agriculture, where growing food is needed to have large spaces, which allows farmers to have more diversified farms that produce a variety of resources. As for, a need for shelter is referring to the amount of population that can be sustained in a particular area, expanding land spaces allow countries to sustain more. The need for infrastructure is very important to boost countries' economies by providing an opportunity to work as well as the need to transporting resources from one place to another, without the road to connect from one city to another the countries economy would crumble. Exploiting natural resources is also another factor that is caused by human activity, where exploiting natural resources occur due to the increase in demand for natural resources. Nowadays technology is very advance, which allows natural resources to be extracted very quickly and efficiently where the purpose of extracting more natural resources is to fulfill the demand. There are also natural factors that make Indonesia having deforestation since Indonesia is a country located in a tropical area this leads Indonesia to experience dry weather, and it is more likely for Indonesia to experience the spread of wildfire. Indonesia is a country that has the potential of becoming the largest economic power in South East Asia. However, the government of Indonesia needs to consider some solutions toward natural causes, as well as overexploitation of natural resources.

Mid Semester Reflection

From the very first day, I attend TIU my goal is always having an improvement in my writing skills. Specifically, in my writing structure and vocabulary as such, it is difficult for me to make formal essays or academic essays. Since most of my essay was written in informal words, there is a certain aspect of why a formal essay is important in our daily life. The workplace is common for using formal words either in reporting, documenting something, or writing a letter toward your boss. People nowadays perceive the formal essay as a mandatory thing to learn, due to formal essays with a good writing structure allow people to view the essay neatly and more polite without having any emotion that may offend someone or contain bias. 

Until now, my goal still remains the same. My writing goal is more to a long term goal rather than a short term goal, since writing an essay requires an understanding of the structures and making an essay that does not contain any bias. For me personally, it takes some time to process this kind of thing and patients. However, for the last couple of months, I have seen myself improving day by day. Part of speech and tenses are the most important things in making an essay in my opinion, due to I believe that understanding the part of speech and tenses can help me get a better understanding of the essay as well as making an essay. I also starting to adapt and use the standard APA structure for my essay.

Beside my writing skills, TIU also teaches me the Japanese language which is for me is the hardest part. At the same time, it is the most rewarding thing learning Japanese takes patience, time, and dedication. There are times when learning Japanese is the most difficult thing, especially when you do not understand most of the parts, and your classmate is way ahead of you. Learning Japanese is like riding a roller coaster, where there are the ups and downs in learning the Japanese language. My ups time is happening when I am able to read some kanji, where Japanese has a lot of kanji word and for me, it is very difficult to read kanji since I have never taken the mandarin class seriously. In my opinion, it is a great improvement as well as the most successful things that I had so far. However, there are also times when I have my downs. Every people who have experience in learning a new language would face some challenges and for me, it is my conversation skill. Most of the time when the teacher asks me a question, I always feel nervous and anxious which leads me to have difficulty in answering the question due to my mind is blank. 

After the end of this semester, I'm planning to have a part-time job that are more interaction with Japanese people. This would be helpful in improving my conversation skills as well as making money for my daily needs. Type of job that I would be interested in, working in a restaurant, or working in a convenient store, since those kinds of jobs are most likely interacting with Japanese people. Other things that I'm planning to do are probably, studying Japanese. It takes a lot of time in learning the Japanese language since I'm learning Japanese in a much slower phase comparing to my classmates so I need to catch up with my classmates. I'm also planning to try various kinds of food in Japan, especially the most popular one. Using the money that I have earned from working I'm gonna use the money to buy food that I haven’t tried yet.

Global Warming

From the past centuries, human activities have been the main cause of global warming. Which lead to a change of temperature as well as weather pattern. Some countries are aware and try to reduce the number of greenhouse gasses that may lead to global warming, and some countries are aware but did not take global warming seriously, they perceive global warming as not their number one priority. The most concerning part of global warming is that global warming reduces the number of resources on planet earth. The higher the temperature the lesser the resources we have, agriculture and fisheries are highly dependable on the climate. The increasing temperature may disrupt certain requirements of growing crops, such as; nutrient level, soil moisture, water availability, and other conditions that are disrupted by the increase of temperature. There are times when climate change causes the land to dry due to, the temperature is rising and there are times when climate change causes drought and flood. Which lead the farmer to have a difficult time growing crops. Fisherman also faces some difficulty in catching fishes, due to climate change affect the water temperature which disrupts mating season as well as migration. Some aquatic animals are highly dependent on temperature and season, to reproduce. 

As an individual, we can reduce the amount of carbon footprint by either planting trees in your backyard or by donating your money. Every donation can increase the number of trees on the planet earth, which reduces the number of greenhouse gases. Trees are very crucial in every aspect, while trees can produce resources, but they can also cool down our planet and helping in conserving energy,  where planting trees can reduce the AC cost. 

Some people may confuse the difference between global warming and climate change. Scientists perceive climate change as a weather and climate system affecting the planet earth. Meanwhile, global warming is referring to long term changes in temperature that affects planet earth. 

In my point of view, the world is changing every single day. Technologies have been more advance, and more ecofriendly, which is helpful in a way of reducing greenhouse gases. I remember when I was a child, the solar panel is not that popular in my country due to the cost of one solar panel is quite pricey and our government does not really emphasize it, due to economic and political issues. In the present day, the new government has been established which is Jokowi Dodo, and he emphasized the used of solar panels. If I were in charge of government policies of global warming, I would restrict the amount of personal transportation, by increasing the cost of fuel and emphasizing more to use public transportation. Other policies that I would like to implement are about no littering if someone is littering there will be sanctions, they have to pay Rp.50,000 for every trash that he or she litter.