The Social Dilemma + Furniture shopping with Potato + ARKK & ARKF investment + Christmas lunch & gift exchange at SS’s + dinner with PY & Francine + Pat’s early 32nd bday lunch @ MASA by Black Society

Saw a random post on Facebook by a friend and decided I should catch “The Social Dilemma”, now that I use them frequently.

We know social media has been creating problems around the world and distancing us, yet I hadn’t given deep thoughts about it.

The concern is real. The problem is here to stay if social media is, and I reckon will be around for a long time. There was MSN Messenger and Friendster that I used before Facebook, but what really got my generation of people hooked onto social media has to be the latter when I was in Polytechnic, before Instagram, Twitter, Weibo, Snapchat, Tik Tok etc made it worse. Social media did affect my feelings and even made me doubt myself at times because there are bound to be comparisons, and even if I could brush it off, it kept coming back because I cannot detach myself from them now.

What is the real truth now? Why are we being manipulated into seeing only what we want to or like to see? Why do we succumb to this digital pacifier? Why and what are the people who were the driving forces behind all these questioning the so-called “convenience” they created? Social media conditions people that when you are lonely, uncertain or afraid, there’s this digital pacifier. Technology developers “steal” our time and attention as click on their ads to generate revenues for those on the platforms. They use AI and algorithms to predict our behaviours. Once we’re hooked, addicted and manipulated, it just leaves us wanting for more. *Intriguing how it’s mentioned in the interviews that only two industries in the world call their customers “users”: illegal drugs and software.* In a sense, they have divided the world further apart.

 

In general, I like the idea of “LIKES” (though it gets unhealthy if we kept on waiting to see who LIKES our photos or count the numbers), but am no believer of social influencers.

 

Like what Tristan Harris, the president for Center for Humane Technology mentioned in the documentary: “If you are not buying the product, you are the product.” We can choose to stop being lab rats and not let social media take over life. I am not brainwashed by this documentary. I just sincerely agree with them. Social media users should on one hand, demand moral responsibility from inventors and enforce rules on data extraction, and on the other, practice distancing with social media platforms ourselves and learn to not take them too seriously. Sure, they have brought us numerous conveniences, but they have disrupted lives and implanted unhealthy habits into our conscious too. I am sure we can kick it ourselves too by removing notifications and unwanted applications on our phones. *This concept is in line with what was taught in《断舍离》… to declutter and find back inner peace.* I also learnt of a search engine, Qwant, that claims it has no user-tracking nor personalisation of search results.

 

I am sure social media developers created them not in the aim to wreck havoc on Earth, but there is always boon and bane, and only participating users can help to stop further damages by imposing a limit, a self-check to our “online lives”. 

Rating: 5/5

 

6/12/20 Sun – 7/12/20 Mon: Stayed over at Potato’s, had some soba and eggs at home for brunch before we headed to Ti-Furniture to look at their Stretch Centrefold Dining Table which I was interested in.

The extension was not too difficult, but it has a tempered glass top, and we both saw lots of fingerprints and scratches across the top. Potato mentioned about the steamboat explosion accident, and after some consideration, I decided to go for a wooden table at Ikea instead. *We liked their paired-dining chairs from HipVan though.*

We came across new designs of tables and chairs at Ikea, and have our eyes set on the sofa, mirror vanity, dining table and chairs there. Potato introduced me to the raved-meatballs at their restaurant too... it reminded me of五香leh haha~ though the cranberry sauce did went well with it. Before we end the trip, we had sashimi don at Fishmart Sakuraya, Anchorpoint for dinner!

8/12/20 Tues: Did an inverted pose in aerial class tonight but almost lost grip when I was upside down as the strap slipped beyond my waist and up. Good thing my arms are always grabbing tightly onto other sides of the strap too.

I finally managed to buy into the ARK Innovation ETF and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF on FSMONE. Been doing their RSPs for the past one year, so I have not tried before stock-trading in real-time. Was a little nervous, but I chose the amount I was willing to buy in at, and it’s always going to be a long-term investment in my plan. So, I shall monitor how this little investment goes in the years ahead.

 

10/12/20 Thurs: Had Korean for lunch with potato at Yew Tee kopitiam before he went over to our new flat to verify the defects rectified by HDB.

13/12/20 Sun: Always takes me at least 1.5hours to reach SS’s haha. The uni ladies (SS, XY, YY, MT and I) gathered for Christmas lunch and we had cranberry pork and roasted chicken yums!  

We exchanged Christmas gifts too. XY got me some resistance bands that I wanted and a diary, and I gave SS her L’occitane hand cream. SS was nice to get us a sanitiser from FLO each, while MT gave us reed diffusers and biscuits from Alywn haha. 

Also, to celebrate our 11 years of friendship, I ordered a Hojicha cake from Nesuto Patisserie ($71)! It was sweet but really good because it had non-sweet cream on top with what tasted like layers of hojicha ice-cream in between! 

Jake and XY were nice to drive me over to Francine’s in the evening. For dinner, Francine, PY and I had Japanese food from Sushi Delivery… about $20 a person but woo the sashimi slices were thick and shiok! *It was girls’ time all night haha! I hope the two find their happiness soon.* 

14/12/20 Mon: Daniel sent us the first round of updates on Monday for the renovation works done over last weekend. Mainly screeding of the floors, ledges in the bathrooms and installation of the kitchen sink. 

Pat, WZ and I ate Pat’s early Birthday lunch at MASA by Black Society at Orchard Gateway. We ordered their bento lunch sets at $13.80++ that came with ice lemon tea… value for money we thought. Also shared the芥兰虾猪肠粉and chilli crab tarts, the latter was nice but a bit too spicy for me. We had a good talk about WZ and her dilemma of going back to work soon or using up the rest of her maternity leave to take care of Vera, Pat’s renovation for her new resale flat at Bishan, how “tired” they feel after giving birth and parenthood in general, and my renovation too. We went over to Takashimaya and they bought egg tarts from Tai Cheong, had drinks at MOS burger, and then WZ bought another drink from Fruce at Wisma Atria too. *Pat already had matcha milk drink before meeting us… wow the two young mums drink a lot now haha!* They accompanied me to Marks and Spencer where I bought Percy Pig’s gummies as Gideon’s birthday gift, before WZ and I bought egg tarts from Joy Luck at Ion Orchard. *Damn it’s $2.30 for one tart and not four… 我活在什么年代啊我~*