Digital Natives

igital Dnatives

Opportunities and challenges of digital technologies

Welcome back to Digital Natives, we hope you have enjoyed our last issue about social networking and the internet. Together we have discovered some of the most recent wonders that the internet has brought us. We looked at ChatGPT and how to use it for school, we talked about the controversial internet star Andrew Tate, and we discovered the dark side of Amazon and many more!

In the second issue of this magazine, we’ll be looking at surveillance and transparency. In a society in which technology becomes a bigger and bigger part of our lives this comes with many positive aspects as well as negative ones. Technology makes our lives easier and more comfortable, however there is a downside to this. Everyday technology is being used to monitor us and the world we live in is becoming increasingly transparent. If we don’t watch out and reflect on our choices, we will live in a society in which secrets are a thing of the past. New developments, such as AI, Robots and cameras, are taking the world by storm and this requires us to be careful and consider all possibilities.

As digital natives we have the responsibility and capability to change the world we live in and to prevent technology from becoming dominant. This may sound like a lot, but this magazine is here to help you out. The latest and second edition of this magazine will guide you through the landscape of the newest innovations in technology. To be more specific this magazine will be about surveillance and transparency. Articles about Robot dogs or Virtual K-pop idols, this magazine has it all! This issue contains a set of articles, guidelines, reviews and interviews with the aim of raising awareness on problems that affect all people surrounded by technology by offering critical perspectives and highlights on the ethical implications of our interconnected world.

Sophie Martinez Rossignol and Haruka Ito

Table of content:

1. Virtual K-pop Idols   Riho Iseki

2. How does AI generated art have a bad impact on people

Yumeri Higuchi

3.Review: Vocaloid song

Haruka Ito

4. The toxic image that social media gave us to our bodies

Elena Keller

5. Her-Review

Sophie Martinez Rossignol

6.How to reduce the mistake in the interaction with ChatGPT

Kenta Kobayashi

7. Facial Recognition AI: Balancing The PROS And CONS Of Privacy Invasion And Its uses.

Youssef Zgugu

8. Overdose in Technology

Habiba Hafez

9.What Social Media Has Done to Make Humanity Hate Each Others Xiangze Li

10. Robot Dogs: Are They SPOT on?

Thijmen Elshout

11. Buzzing Kairi Mogi

12. How to spot hype

Syu Imai

13. The nightmare of sleep

Giulia Franchini

14. Letters to the editor

Virtual K-pop idol -

Riho Iseki

Recently, K-pop idols have been popular and famous all around the world since the hit of BTS and Blackpink in America. However, each entertainment offices have a lot of issues such as mental health problems of idols, negative news about the idols, leaving a group etc. In contrast, a new virtual K-pop idol called Mave:, debuted in South Korea in 2023. Virtual idol doesn’t exist in the real world; however it is an idol that created by using new technology, AI and technique of 3D for being typical K-pop star which are necessary to have a high level of a singing, dancing, and rapping skill.

What kinds of problems that virtual K-pop idols have?

The problems in terms of skills as an idol is no humanity in the dance, facial expression, and movement, and there is still a gap between real idols and virtual idols. The physical problems are that while K-pop idols places a high value on interaction with their fans such as having handshaking events (fans can handshake with their favourite idol in the event) and one-on-one autograph sessions with fans every time they release a song, virtual idols cannot have interaction which is face to face with fans in real life and fans never have a chance to see the idols.

From K-pop industry perspective, when the skills of virtual idols became much better and the ability became the same as real idols, the value of real idols who have practiced preparing for debuting since they are in middle school or in elementary school, reduces. Furthermore, when the company makes virtual idols’ faces, they search about the popular face in Korea and they make idols’ faces based on existing idols, thus faces of virtual idols sometimes alike existing real idols. Especially, when Mave: debuted, a lot of people mentioned about it.

How will they influence Kpopindustry and K-pop fan? What are the impacts on K-pop industry and fans?

The looks of virtual Idols are based on Korean standard of beaty and facial features to make it as beautiful as they can, because South Korea has an appearance-oriented culture. Hence, fans may aspire to the idols, and they may diet excessively or undergo plastic surgery extremely.

Real idols may not be popular anymore due to appearance of new virtual idols or a job of an idol may disappear.

K-pop industry will polarize fans who mind passionate love news and military service issues of favourite idols will go virtual idols, and fans who wants to join face to face meeting or concerts will go real idols.

In the end, K-pop is getting popular all over the world and we can enjoy it wherever you live. Also there are numerous idols in South Korea whatever real idols or virtual idols. Listen some K-pop songs and explore to find your favourite idols based on your preference!

Which of the following artworks do you think was created by AI?

-How does AI-generated art have a bad impact on people-

Which artworks do you think was created by AI?

By Yumeri Higuchi

The answer is…All of them!

In recent years, technology has developed dramatically, and it has affected human society. In particular, AI technology is a significant invention worldwide. Among these technologies, AI-generated art has drawn attention, and many people are now generating and posting it on social media. On the other hand, it has become a significant topic of discussion in the art industry, and it is important to be aware of, why the AI art is considerable? In this article,

As mentioned above, many people have started using AI Art generator to create artwork. These artworks can be generated by installing an app or software, accessing a website and entering a prompt. Lots of users are beginning to use this simple method to generate high quality AI art and post it on social networking sites. However, posting AI art on social networking sites also brings disadvantages in some ways.

Although there are currently no specific regulations regarding the posting of AI art, it should be made implicit that "this artwork was not drawn by a human but was generated by AI". However, there are many people posting without saying so, or falsely claiming to have drawn it themselves. Although the quality of most AI art is high, it can contain errors if looked at closely, which someone may notice and mention in the comments in the social media. Once this happens, those who had previously respected the contributor's drawing ability or who draw on their own can be disappointed. Thus, by posting fake artwork, AI art can cause disruptions on social networking sites.

On the other hand, as mentioned earlier, while AI-generated art can be misunderstood as art painted by the artist themselves, there is also the possibility of vice versa, at the same time, self-drawn art can be misinterpreted as AI art. There is a risk that self-drawn art may be mistaken for AI art. These mistakes often occur, especially in realistic art and anime art artists which are also strong skills of major AI art program. AI artwork creates confusion whether the artwork is made by human or technology.

Furthermore, AI artwork has problems on the commercial aspect. There are not only artists draws as their hobby, but also those draws for their business. Creating a single artwork usually takes a very long amount of time and skill, and as a result, original artwork made by human tends to be prices higher than AIgenerated art, which requires less time and skill. Therefore, since the AI art generator has been created, many people who want artwork for

their own purposes started to use it to create an artwork by themselves for free. This fact implies that the role of the artist may gradually be replaced by AI technology.

Through this article, the negative impacts of AIgenerated art on the art industry since the development of technology as a result of

human progress are mentioned, in the first place, we must ask: is AI-generated art “real art”? There are many points of view in the art, however generally, art is defined as “the expression or application of human

creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power” (Oxford Dictionary). In art, the story or thoughts hiding behind the artwork or cultural background are absent. AI art is far

from the original meaning of art, it is not a thing created by human, and it is not created using imagination or creativity of human. Is AI art really art or not? Does the creation of art truly reflect human development of humans from the art perspective? This topic should continue to be discussed to maintain the preservation of art industry in the future.

Review: 匿名M (Anonymous M)

By Haruka Ito

(5.0)

English subtitle available on official music video on YouTube.

The term 'vocaloid' is an abbreviation of two English words: 'vocal' and 'android'. As can be inferred from its name, this is a voice synthesizing software which is used as a vocal of a song. It is so popular in Japan that it has even established a song genre. The technology of vocaloid provides a solution for creators who eager to create musical pieces but are not up for singing. In fact, it is said that there are 50k of vocaloid creators, and over 0.2 million of songs sung by vocaloid. Furthermore, the technology is still developing today. The vocaloid is getting sound more and more like real human being singing, and there are many voice types of vocaloid developed.

Examples of vocaloid songs (click to open the link):

o 千本桜 (Sembon-zakura)

o 砂の惑星 (Planet of Sand)

o 六兆年と一夜物語

(Six Trillion Years and Overnight)

In this review, I will analyze and evaluate one of the latest vocaloid song, Anonymous M by PinocchioP. This song is unique; unlike ordinary songs, its lyrics is in the form of “human interviewing vocaloid”. ‘Anonymous M’ is how the vocaloid interviewee called. The vocaloid used in this piece is ‘Miku Hatsune’, but the interviewee says “please don’t identify me”, so let’s not talk about who Anonymous M is…

In the lyrics, M repeatedly says “I’m not human”. She does not have any favorite foo d, hobbies, or she does not age either. Because she is not human. She keeps answ ering the interviewer, “I’m just a music software, pretending to be human”. Since sh e is a vocaloid, she does not have any emotions in the way she sings, but these lyri cs sound very sorrow and ironic to me. Also, there is another interesting dialogue:

M: Interviewer: M:

Human, thank you for everything, thank you for all of your w orks! Thanks to all of you, I can continue singing…! That’s very touching. Well, someone’s just making me say all of this.

This is ironic, but very to the point. What she sings or says are all programmed, non e is truly from herself. She is ‘controlled’ by human in some way, so that she is alwa ys passive and inferior to human.

So far, we have looked at Anonymous M’s words. Now, look at how the human interviewer is reacting to M’s responses to his questions.

Interviewer: M: Interviewer:

Anything on your mind recently?

I have a lot of hair and it’s annoying. Also, I’m not good at pronunciation, so whenever people call me a “Diva”, I feel a little pressure.

I see, amount of hair.

In this scene, it is obvious that her biggest concern is pronunciation, but the interviewer completely ignores it. Also, in the end, he says goodbye even though M is still singing. This interviewer’s attitude shows represents how humans’ interest towards the content of vocaloid gets lost over time.

Finally, let me introduce this song’s music video on YouTube. The music video is consistently animated and is great in a visualization of the message behind this song. The most memorable fact in this video would be hidden towards the end. In the video, M is often depicted to be in a devastated urban city. However, in 2:13 where M sings “I used to be empty, but now I’m filled with memories”, the background changes to plain desert for a bit, and goes back to the devastated city again. This implies that human developed the content of vocaloid, which flourished as if a desert turns into an urban city; but, “some start singing by themselves, switch characters, lose interest, so on.”, as M says, and she will be abandoned eventually.

At a first listen, it sounds pop and rhythmical, and somewhat funny, as it contains many black jokes. However, looking deep into the lyrics and the video, it makes us realize not only the beauty of the culture of vocaloid, but also the emotion or rights of android as well. Furthermore, although this piece has Japanese-only lyrics, there are numerous responses from oversea listeners, which indicates how moving and nuanced the song is. I would definitely give this impressive work full stars, and I hope this review helps you to enjoy Anonymous M even more!

The toxic image that social media gave us to our bodies.

By: Elena Keller Last update: 25/04/23.

AsDigitalnatives,weallhaveexperiencedthe feeling of seeing on social media all the influencers with the “perfect” bodies and faces; asking ourselves what is wrong with us. Even if you know that many of them photoshop or change their appearance, you still feel as if your body doesn’t fit nowadays requirements. The natural body is being changed and transformed to become this flawlessandperfectBarbie-likeimage.

People have been trying to battle beauty standards since the beginning. The body positivity movement is one of the most important, their goal is to change how people see their bodies and to accept everyone regardless of their appearance. However nowadays it has taken a whole new turn. The society’s standards change every day and people are more and more exposed. People can’tkeepupanymore.

Well, first you are not alone. In 2019, the MentalHealthFoundation performed a study and found that 13% of adults have suicidal thoughts about their body image. As one of the first generations to be exposed to such unrealistic standards of beauty, it is normal to start to compare yourself. This is why it is important as a social media user to protect yourself from all the negative thoughts and messages thatyoumayreceive.

So how to protect yourself?

Remember that everything is fake! Most of the photos on social media have been photoshopped or changed in some way. It is not fair to compare yourself with something that doesn’t even exist. It is important to keep in mind that currently, many people do operations and many physical changes to look the way they do. They may have ultra-restrictive diets so that they have the “perfect” stomach or even work out like a beast and take proteins to have more muscles in a short period of time.  Rest and give yourself some love. Spend one hour a week where you can relax and love your body. One way could be to go in front of a mirror and have some positive affirmations or even take a bath and disconnect from social media. Maybe your mind has been overstimulated with information and it doesn’t rationalize anymore. Relaxing will help you to focus on things that matter to you and so to better confront the maze of data that you absorb every day.

Go and follow some body positivity influencers! Following people who show their bodies in a realistic way can help you realize how idealistic and toxic the image that we have of the human body is. They can help you to understand that the imperfections of the body are completely natural and that they belong on our body.  Get some help. If your self-image brings you down and you are not sure how to proceed, go talk to someone. It can be by professionals or someone you trust, talking about it can make you feel better and understand your feelings. They will give you a different perspective that may be more grounding and genuine than influencers.

Focus on other things. Start to change content on your social media platform and watch about your hobbies and interests. Having less content for you to compare will bring less attention to how you look. Focusing on something you like will change your mentality. The whole movement is primarily concentrated on the external image that you give to people, try to shift your focus on something deeper like value and personality.

To finish, the unrealistic beauty standards set by society and promoted by social media have taken a toll on individuals’ mental health. It is important to remember that most of it is fake and it can be changed with the right click. Nowadays, it is important to protect yourself and to keep your focus on deeper attributes of yourself.

The essential is to take care of yourself and to embrace imperfections as part of the natural human body.

Her –Review

Sophie Martinez Rossignol

Last updated: 30/04/23

Attention: this review provides some spoilers of the movie

Is it possible to fall in love with an Artificial Intelligence system? How would it change the world if people started dating advanced technology applications? What could be the advantages and the risks in that? The movie HER, directed by Spike Jonze and starred by Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johanssen, explores the themes of feelings, technology and privacy. Theodore, a lonely man going through a painful divorce, starts developing a relationship with Samantha, his newly purchased speaking operating system that is designed to meet his every need.

One of the most important aspects of the movie is the impact of virtual relationships between AI systems and humans. As the movie progresses, there is a clear evolution of the main characters. The more Theodore speaks with virtual Samantha, the more he isolates himself from real people. On her side, she learns about his thinking and feelings and always predicts the right thing to say at the right time. Theodore is not the only one who isolates himself. A scene pictures how everyone is talking to their own AI system and the interaction between humans has become very minimal.

The movie also defies the idea that love is only possible between living beings. As other romantic stories, it shows that, rather than a straightforward feeling, love is a complex process that requires shared experiences, communication, and empathy. What is totally disruptive in this case is that one on the two involved in the process is not human. Theodore is genuinely attached to Samantha even though she is an operating system.

Moreover, Samantha confesses she is involved in other thousands of relationships. That makes Theodore feel jealous but does not stop him from pursuing their loving relationship. I do wonder myself if what he feels can truly be called love. It could also be seen as an attachment and dependence over an operating system that just makes him feel less lonely and sad.

Her-Review

In addition, the power of language is very visible in this movie. It is only throughout the things that Samantha says that Theodore falls in love. As mentioned before, she always knows what to say and when. Language can shape our perceptions of the world and the people around us. In fact, multiple times Samantha change Theodore´s vision of a certain place or person throughout language.

It raises questions about the role and importance of language in our interaction with AI systems, if these systems can ‘understand’ and use language as humans do and if so, how they can influence us.

It is known that Samantha has access to Theodore´s information. She can see his emails, pictures and letters. She even has access to a camera which allows her to see him all the time. At some point in the movie, she sends some of his letters to a famous publisher who likes them and wishes to publish them in a book. Samantha does this without Theodore´s permission or awareness. She tells him about it once the publisher has sent a response back and Theodore is very grateful towards her. Here is another interesting debate that can turn in many different directions. Some might argue that such operating systems could be helpful to humans as they would take the best decisions for them. That seems to be the case for Theodore who eventually is proud to have his work published. However, others might strongly disagree. Firstly, there has been here a clear violation of privacy, since there was no consent given to share the letters. It also means that Samantha can send whatever private information she has of Theodore to anyone else. With the power she has, she is able to prevent him from getting certain messages, to expose him and get him fired or completely change his life in a matter of seconds. I find the thought of having your future in the hands of an AI system quite scary. Even if the movie does not show the extremes, there could be a reached point where AIs have total control over our lives.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that the movie was launched in 2013 and, since then, has been a major topic of discussions related with technological advancements. While ChatGPT is currently provoking so much debate, it is interesting to compare how people imagined what the future would look like a few years ago and how things have turned up so far.I personally found this movie both fascinating and terrifying. It made me ask myself if technology does more harm than good, it opened my eyes and urged me to be more careful about the way I use it. I highly recommend watching HER, questioning how AI can shape our lives and what to do about it.

By Kenta Kobayashi

How to reduce the mistakeintheinteraction withChatGPT

ChatGPT is a very convenient tool to generate the text and data which users are looking for. They have an ability not only to answer the question bus also explain the topic, write essay, email etc. It may be easier to ask questions to ChatGPT rather than searching it. However, unfortunately sometimes ChatGPT provides inaccurate response since it is an AI-based model. Here are four tips to avoid generating incorrect content as much as possible:

Be polite

Sometimes ChatGPT gives biased opinions especially when you ask offensively or asks questions that included prejudice. This is because AI gathers numerous data which may contain some discriminatory or biased contents. Thus, using fair and respectful language can contribute to generate reliable responses. If you want to ask about gender inequality, for example you can say ‘What progress is made towards achieving equal opportunities for all genders?’

ChatGPT and large language model bias - CBS News

Correct mistake

The researchers found that providing feedback to ChatGPT can improve its performance for a long time. That means correcting mistakes made by ChatGPT and giving feedback can help their learning and improving. For instance, they sometimes make a mistake in the calculation such as addition. If it gives an obviously wrong answer, you can say ‘sure?’ so that ChatGPT can recognize its mistake and provide a more accurate answer again.

Ross: AI ChatGPT gets defensive when you correct its mistakes - M yNorthwest.com

Be specific with your question

Providing context can improve the accuracy of AI language model. For example, assume you are restaurant owner, and you want ChatGPT to tell the way to increase sales since sales have been decreasing compared to last month. In this case, you are better to ask, ‘I am French restaurant owner and I run the restaurant in the central of London, are there any ways to increase sales?’ instead of just asking ‘How to increase sales of restaurant’. By giving background information, ChatGPT can understand the purpose and intent of the question you provided.

Improving Accuracy in Text Classification with ChatGPT – TS2 SP ACE

Definitely ChatGPT will continue to develop and improve in the future since researching of AI is ongoing so the number of mistakes caused by AI must be greatly reduced. Now having a good interaction with AI is good way to contribute to its improvement.

Facial Recognition AI (FRAI)

By: Youssef Zgugu

Facial Recognition AI:

Balancing The PROS And CONS Of Privacy Invasion And Its uses.

Facial Recognition is an AI technology that uses machine algorithms to identify a person's identity by analyzing their facial features. It has been used in security and law enforcement, but many are Conser about if it invades people's privacy and can be abused by the wrong people.

On the good side, Facial recognition AI can be used to identify people to reduce crime it can be used as security in public places like airport and train stations, by identifying known/wanted criminals it can help law enforcement capture them because Facial recognition AI cameras that identified them.

Facial recognition AI can also be used in store to prevent theft and capture the thefts' identity by CCTV. It can also recognize loyal customers that are regulars and can rewards those people for being loyal or it can be used to identify was category of people shop at a certain cloths store (females, males, old people, younger people, etc...). that can help a store with their business by giving them information and safety.

However, facial recognition AI causes some certain risk of privacy by law enforcement and government. For example, Government can use facial recognition to capture the identity of protesters and get in trouble. That basically is like they don’t have freedom of speech and can protest because if they do, they will get it trouble meaning they are forced to be quiet.

Another concern, Facial Recognition is an AI that analyzes people's facial expression to identify them with the most fitting one it can find and identifies it. This can be hard since its known that AI does have knowledge of a human and cannot recognize skin color or eyes color or hair colors. It can misidentify the wrong person causing a false arrest to an innocent man.

Facial recognition AI was feared to be used as a mass survalance by the government. For example, in China the government implied a new system. It's like social credit score where they use facial recognition to monitor people and every time, they do something bad (on social media, jay walking, transactions, etc..) Their score goes down and at a certain level they get a punishment. That new rule is invading the privacy of civilians.

Another example is in United States where facial recognition is used a lot without responsibility. For example, the New York Police department used facial recognition to search for mugshots data of people without a warrant, leading to privacy invasion.

In conclusion, Facial Recognition AI is a powerful technology and can be very helpful in security, prevent crime, improve businesses use in future and can improve more. However, it can have many negative risks for privacy and human rights (freedom of speech). In my opinion that type of ai is important and is needed in future. It can improve to reduce the negatives and guidelines have to be placed of how to use it for people to not abuse it.

Overdose In Technology

by Habiba Hafez

“There is Nothing Better than the Feeling of Drugs.” The feeling of happiness and calm provoked by drugs can be wonderful. It makes you feel at ease. It’s a great tool to solve your problems. It is true it has some future consciences, still the future is by far near. In this episode the mother overdosed on drugs to calm her fear and anxiety, Nonetheless the significances where but a couple of years later. What was this drug? And was it worth the risk?

Spoiler warning: This review discloses some of the plot and ending of the episode!

What to expect:

Black mirror is a Netflix series featuring the dystopian world. This series illustrations the possible near future of technology. With every episode a new technology is introduced. Black mirror represents the consciences that the development brings into the world.

Arkangel is an episode in this series. It is the only episode out of the four seasons that was directed by a woman: Jodie Foster. Considering the 4 seasons, Arkangel isn’t the most disturbing episode, however it is by definite the scariest piece of technology introduced. Probably What makes “Arkangel” so overwhelming and nerve wrecking is its possibility of occurring right now!

“Arkangel” is the drug:

The story begins in the delivery room, with a heart wrecking scene where the mother struggles with anxiety and self-doubt on her ability to be the perfect mother. It then follows a plot twist. This single mother loses her 3-year-old daughter Sarah in the park. This traumatic event led her to act based on her fears and rely on “Arkangel” to solve her problems.

“Arkangel” is a technology that is implemented in a child’s head. With a monitoring system parent can control their children with. Some features of the technology are medical response monitoring, GPS tracking, visual surveillance, censorship of traumatic events, and mood-altering abilities. The device signifies great advancement to today’s tech.

The mother’s decision and her actions can be viewed in two possible aspects. For a viewer who grew up in a strict and overwhelming household, they feel the suffocation of the daughter. They feel empathetic and overwhelmed with what Sarah is going through. However, for a viewer who might have passed with the same traumatic event of the mother, have lost a parent figure, or is a mother, would agree with her view of protection. The viewer would sympathize with the mother and would find the device a good tool to monitor a child.

Realisation of Overdosing:

Needless to say, the mother needs to allow her daughter to make her own decision and her own mistakes. Parents need to accept that no matter how the children end up even if they follow the wrong path, it doesn’t necessarily mean they failed parenting. Sometimes it’s just fate. Just like a person who follows a healthy lifestyle could actually get sick. Parents should not try to modify the world to secure their children but need to teach their children how to react to this world and adapt to it. As life would definitely offer them moments of ease and hard times which they need to learn how to face and overcome.

“Arkangel” triggered physical harm and drugging. When we are given the power to look through the eyes of others, and control every aspect of what can be viewed, control the right from the wrong, we strip the target off from any hu-man left in them.

Overdosing:

Soon later the mother desires to control her daughter’s life and create a utopian world spirals out of control. She becomes fixated over monitoring her and censoring anything that seemed a danger. The mother’s dictatorship led to an event that shocked my core. She made a decision that no mother should do, to show disapproval Sarah reacted to her anger yet the technology was way stronger than her.

The effect of “Arkangel” doesn’t hit the mother till the end however Sarah experiences them every day. The daughter became dependent and relied on the device so much. Sarah did not have a normal life; she was affected by her surroundings and wanted a way to rebel.

Was The Episode Worth The Effort :

As an overview “Arkangel” is a well-crafted episode. The director managed to convey her point. Despite not being enjoyable to watch, the director managed to create an emotional impact on the viewer. She managed to reach the perfect extent of emotions. Would I watch the episode again? Definitely not!

What Social Media Has Done to Make Humanity Hate Each Others.

Screen shots from the TikTok video. I would recommend every one of you listens to this to the end. #fyp #r... | TikTok

- Xiangze Li

“Relationships have never been so weak, families have never been so broken, divorce rate have never been so high, the youth has never been so lost, mental health had never before spiralled so out of control, cheating was never normal…” This is what Adrian has said about the problems we are facing right now as a species together. In this video he was trying to impart a great idea about how does social media or internet indoctrinate teenagers and young adult with highly ethical considered issues, that will cause a huge problem to us in the near future.

“If you want to make humanity hate each other and fall apart, show teenage boys as much naked women as you possibly can”, Adrian said, which he later explained this quote to us verbatim.

He argues that young boys today are far too likely to see beautiful naked women on the internet than the countless rich and powerful men of three centuries ago. The fact that social media is now filled with sexually revolting content, and that those pornographic models or celebrities implicitly represent an increasingly casual acceptance of dressing, is an important reason why women today feel more insecure beyond our imagination..

Because today's teenagers are addicted to mobile phones, they can't stop watching tik toks, playing video games, and chatting with others. They lose the opportunity to use their youth to create and imagine. At the same time, they also hate the school and the education system. Anxiety and inability to concentrate in their studies, when they are young adults, they find

themselves worthless, full of negativity, they don't understand loyalty, all of which make them the most incompetent parents . This is the final step in social media's destruction of humanity, objectifying one gender, making both genders hate each other, sexualizing teenagers, isolating them from their families of origin, making them feel that betrayal is normal, etc.

People are so biased to make money that they become distorted within themselves and others. Boys think that half-naked women are on every corner of every street and that their level of self-awareness is extremely low, girls think that by wearing less they can attract more attention and make more money, all of which leads to the belief that unfaithful relationships are normal, which leads to the worse outcome of gender confrontation and hate between men and women, which are the first steps in the destruction of humanity by social media.

We need to do everything we can to save society and the younger generation from being enslaved by social media, and I think the changes we need to make can be summed up in an old Chinese saying: " 非礼勿视 , 非礼 勿听 , 非礼勿言 " In English, it means do not see evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil.

Robot Dogs: Are they SPOT on?

In 2017 yet another terrifying episode of the dystopian hit series ‘Black Mirror’ shocked the world as it launched on Netflix. The episode called Metalhead was sinister just like every other episode of Black Mirror but there was something that made this episode more terrifying than the others. In the episode we see several robot dogs however they are nothing like a normal four-legged friend. In this episode, the dogs were able to hunt and track people down with great efficiency. They were very intellectual and determined. They would simply not stop until they killed their target.

have to do with the newest tech?’ This is where SPOT comes in. SPOT is a newly developed robot dog made by the infamous Boston Dynamics, based in Waltham Massachusetts. SPOT is a highly intellectual robot dog that behaves just like a real one. It can move independently, and it can be equipped with all sorts of devices and gadgets. In a sense, it’s just like the robot dogs from Black Mirror. The similarities between the two are intriguing and rather terrifying and this is not a coincidence. The directors of ‘Metalhead’ took great inspiration from Boston Dynamics themselves for making the episode.

Let’s get back to SPOT the dog. It was revealed in 2016 and since 2019 it has been available to consumers. It has been used for many things. In Singapore it was used to help people maintain distance from each other during the pandemic and in New York it has even been used by the police. Several construction companies have been using the robot to make precise measurements of buildings and other things. So far so good right?

However, not every company is as friendly as Boston Dynamics. Several other companies have made huge advancements in creating autonomous robots, one of these is Ghost Robotics. Just like Boston Dynamics, they have recently built a quadruped robot looking just like a dog. The name of it is a bit less friendly; they are called V60 Q-UGVs. Unlike their counterpart, Ghost Dynamics is eager to collaborate with governments and surveillance companies as they believe that their V60 robot dogs can be used for military purposes, according to their mission statement. Show models of V60 have been equipped with a sniper rifle, it has 30x optical zoom, a thermal camera for aiming in the dark and it has an effective range of 1,200 meters! When made available to the wider public this thing will be able to kill people effectively in a variety of situations. If that does not scare you, then maybe it might be time for you to go and see a doctor. In case you thought that the robot is not in use yet, both the US Army, the British Army, and the Australian Army have been trialling the V60 robots with great enthusiasm.

We now know that the world of robotics is split into two sides. The friendly ethical side is in the form of our four-legged friend SPOT. This friendly-looking robot dog has many revolutionizing applications that will surely make our lives better and safer. SPOT can be used to safely film crime scenes or to clean up radioactive hazardous materials. Besides, it can be used in the event of an earthquake or other natural disasters. Its creators, Boston Dynamics, have pledged to prevent the weaponization of their robots.

Then there is the other side in the form of the V60 robots. V60 is quite literally the opposite of SPOT. It does not look that friendly anymore and its creators are eager to equip it with guns so that the military can use it. As of now, there are zero safety precautions that prevent them from doing so and it is unlikely that there will be any in the near future.

Now that we have arrived at the end of this article, I would like you to think back about the Black Mirror episode ‘Metalhead’. 6 years after its release the events depicted in the episode do not seem so far away anymore. In fact, these so-called killer robots are already wandering around the world. They might not be as agile and advanced as the guard dogs in ‘Metalhead’ but nonetheless they could kill anyone in a blink of an eye. The rise of weaponized robot dogs begs the question: are we chasing technological progress at the cost of our humanity? In my humble opinion, there is no doubt about it. Robot companies should be halted, and it is time to ask ourselves if we really want to become slaves of our own technology.

Thijmen Elshout

‘’We pledge that we will not weaponize our advanced-mobility general-purpose robots or the software we develop that enables advanced robotics and we will not support others to do so.’’ – Boston Dynamics

Buzzing

Kairi Mogi

What is buzzing, and how does it affect to people?

There is a new strategy that advertising companies utilize which is called “buzzing”. Also, firms offer influential people to promote their commodities and they are called “buzzers”; In most cases, they advertise the products through social media such and Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc. The difference between current advertisement and buzzing is that consumers cannot realized whether the buzzers are paid or not. In other word, although buzzers are being paid, they pretend themselves as they personally recommend the goods.

How does it work?

Nowadays, people become slaves to their smartphone, as people spend a large amount of time for using social media apps. They see several celebrities’ photos through the apps, and almost all the posts include products such as clothes, foods, shoes, etc. Even though they are being paid to post the commodities, viewers rarely realize the fact. As a result, they try to purchase same things, and supports enterprises to increase their profit.

How does buzzing affect negatively to people?

When people enjoy social media, they are most likely being relaxed. In other word, social media decrease the attentiveness. If people watch the advertisement by noticing that it is an advertisement, they tend to be suspicious. However, when they see buzzed products through social media, as they are being relaxed, they don’t doubt about the products, even though that they know that promoted products appears to be perfection.

As the social media is prevailing around the world, we spend a large amount of time on it. Although it is convenient, we must be aware that several disadvantages exists while we are using it. Not only buzzing but also there are several businesses that has been conducted through social media. While we use social media, as it decreases the attentiveness, it is difficult to realize that we already slave to it.

How To Spot Hype

Syu Imai

Nowadays people are exposed by hundreds of digital advertisements a day. Since the internet shows the adds which are related or interesting, we sometimes click to the site and buy the product which was from the adds, but is that trustful? When you see the hamburger in adds, it looks big and very juicy , but how is it in real life?

Hype’s effect on intention to buy

Marketers makes the advertisements using a variety of methods to attract customer lot. However there exists some products which you haven’t expected. The way to recognise if it is true or not, will help you to shop without making mistakes.

How to see the advertisements

1. Exaggerating claims of what can be achieved. The word “revolutionary”, “ground-breaking”, “life-changing” or “dramatic” has to be seen careful. These words makes us to think that it’s an unbelievable product, but we have to take a moment to cooldown and think about it.

2. Can third parties used in advertising be trusted? The reliability will depend on reputation, business practices and backgrounds. The famous actor might be trusty, because he is known by many people.

3. Would the before-and-after be a result of that product? If the add says that joining the gym made the people to success a diet, is that the only reason? The people might have changed the food to salad or had a fasting

4. Investigation can be taken place in the company. Is “95% satisfaction” really 95%? We have to be aware that what people joined the investigation. The investigation could be done inside the products company.

The add we see has correct, false, slightly different information. Therefore it is necessary to take the points discussed above into account when valuing advertisements.

Letters to the editor

Thank you for the feedbacks to our past magazine. The texts below are some feedbacks given to our past magazine's article and the response to it.

Dear Kairi Mogi,

I’m a student who study English B in Yew Chung international school, I’d recently had a chance to read the magazine you wrote called “How to avoid getting into trouble in online shopping?” In my perspective, I totally agree with your statement that there are many dangers of utilizing online shopping and people should be aware of that. Moreover, the three ways of evaluating the websites were surprisingly helpful to me and my family. My sister is about ten years-old and she loves manicures. In recent, year the internet had developed rapidly causing even people in my sister’s age are able to use the online shopping websites or Apps easily. As soon as she knew how to use a phone, she bought tons of manicure tools and every day I can receive at least one or two express deliveries with random toys and manicure tools in it. The worst part is that I had no idea how much she spent on each package until I looked at her phone and eventually found out she bought all those packages on a website I had never heard of.

So, one day my sister weren‘t home, I dug deeper into the website and found out that the products are significantly more expansive than the ones on those big brand company like Taobao or Jingdon, I think one of the reason is the website require extra payments on those specific product that forces you to pay five RMB to look at the videos they recorded teaching you how to use the product. It is also worth mentioning that the products you buy from their websites are not returnable if even its damaged when they are delivered. Eventually I stopped my sister from using that website anymore and left some comments under the website saying this website is not reliable.

Best regard

Bo JingSun

Dear Bo JingSun

Thank you for sharing an interesting experience with me. I hope my guideline will help your sister to think about her attitude toward online shopping. Also, by hearing the story about your sister, I felt that I need to be attentive to my little brother. Because I learned that children are intrigued by a variety of products as your sister purchases a large number of commodities, I think that it is necessary for me to care for my little brother who will obtain a phone soon. I hope that your sister will become able to master technology and I will make my brother not become enslaved to technology but utilize it effectively.

Kind regard

Kairi Mogi

Hi Syu, I hope this email doesn’t scare you, and I know it’s quite random, but I read the article that you posted online recently about Stolen Identity, and I just wanted to share my views, thoughts, and questions based on this article. After reading this article I also went to see the thriller film that you mentioned, I thought the story happened to the protagonist Asami is a great example to raise awareness to the audience pay attention to these cases. For example, losing their phone and been received back by somebody that you don’t know and doesn’t even appear. Nevertheless, there’s still some opinion that you state that I’m still not that agree with, I hope this doesn’t offense you, these are my views; The cause of exposing personal information should not be directly filed under dropping our phone, although there’s a high possibility. At the review section, you state that dropping a smartphone will directly cause exposing everything about us and being stripped of our clothes. Although I really like the phrase you used, “stripped of our clothes”, even so I don’t particularly agree with this direct cause you’ve stated. I think the direct cause is not dropping our phone, it’s about another problem that exists – To what extent do now days technology really protect our identity and more due to privacy. Apart from that, the theme of this article also reminds me a book that I recently read and learnt in my English lesson that I’m willing to share and discuss with you, it requires an interesting storyline as well as related to the subject of transparency of identity, privacy, and tech related. It's basically about the protagonist Mae Holland (a tech worker), as she joins a powerful internet company The Circle, the worker in this company must or more likely to say they will end up with sacrifice their privacy and freedom for this company whether they want to or not. The point consist in the protagonist Mae was really differ to that, but then as the course of the book runs on, she suddenly posts images online nearly insane. Lastly in the end of the book, as a reader me and my classmate could not sympathize with Mae because she changed a lot, we’re even quite mad at her for being “evil”. This makes me think of how dangerous and horrible it is to sacrifice their own identity and freedom to become “the person” that the company supposes them to be, in the world of The Circle. Well, I would rather choose to lose my phone than sacrifice all my personal details and freedom. These views might be immature yet thank you for reading this till the end of this email, it really means a lot to me. I’m looking forward to if there’s an opportunity to meet you! Thanks!

Sincerely, Wiley LI

Hi, Wiley

Thank you for responding to my e-mail the other day. It was great to hear your opinion as a same language learner. Your opinion was very specific and easy to understand with the example from your book you learnt. The main story different, but the main thing which both wanted to tell the reader seems to be slightly same. After rethinking with your opinions, I also thought the problem seem to be in current technology and the way of protecting our privacies. I’ll definitely take a look at the book you mentioned. Since China and my home country Japan are very close but has a different technologies of social medias. So, I’m looking forward to having a chat about that with you Thanks.

Syu Imai

Dear Kenta Kobayashi,

I am a student currently studying IB course, I had recently read an article written by you on the topic of the declining popularity of Facebook. I really feel connected to the opinions you express, despite not a user of Facebook, I had seen many social media fail. I find the opinion you are expressing very interesting. Your article is insightful. The use of a variety of data and results shows that the popularity of Facebook is indeed declining. I think that the use of a formative tone is really good when explaining things, since it keeps the topic on track, and remains a moderate tone.

After reading this article, it inspired me to look around. it is quite shocking to see how the use of social media in different age groups is split. Teenagers and adults around me use different social media, younger aged people use TikTok a lot compared to other apps. Therefore, I would say that this isn’t only happening on Facebook, but to all traditional media affected, presenting the gap between generations is widened through their use of social media.

Although, I firmly agree with your statement that people have their individual needs through social media, I think it is debatable, whether the variety of social media stops us from connecting and communicating. As an individual living in China, we are often exposed to relatively less varied forms of social media, despite there are lots of social media, I often limited myself to WeChat when we talk about communication, so it is really hard for us to feel empathy for those in Western countries. But I think that with a varied choice of social media, it will be more convenient as the functions of all the apps are specified, and as all know specialization means higher productivity.

I do agree with your idea on designs affecting people’s choices. As one of my friends said that he downloaded Instagram because of its design of it. Although that might be the case for a small part of the population, I do think that it has a limited effect compared to the impact of influencers and celebrities. Despite Facebook being such a famous social media, they can’t send public messages compared to Instagram, where the celebrity can send their daily life so that their fans feel more connected to them personally. Not only did this benefit the celebrity, but also the companies as well.

I would like to conclude my opinion with a simple point, although the trend is what causes the decline of Facebook, I do think that what causes the trend is more important than the trend itself.

Yours sincerely

Samuel li, Y12

Hi, thank you for your nice feedback. Yes, I’m also not facebook users but it is obvious that social media usage varies among different age group. As you have said I agree that the design impact has a limited effect compared to the effect of influencers because some people utilize the app that many influencers and celebrities appear. It depends but in my opinion influencers tend to be in youtube and tiktok while celebrities tend to be in Instagram so individual preference also affects the choice of social app usage. Also, it’s very interesting that you often limited yourself to WeChat when you talk about communication because this also happens in Japan, my place of origin. Approximately 80% of the Japanese population are using the app called LINE which we can communicate widely but this app isn’t common in other countries even it’s from Korea. However, convenience seems to be the primary factor that contribute to such a trend.

Kind regards

Kenta