Essay Draft#2

Findings (Blumler & Katz, 1974) showed that youths always (five to seven days per week) use social media to share information including personal information.  Muhammad Muhsin Ahmad Zahari (2012, as cited in Rosmah Dain, 2012) claimed that youths in Malaysia use the social media sites to share their problems and most of them are inclined towards negative things.

Othman (2011) shows that youths are the heaviest user of the Internet and this is due to the existing social media sites. This is further supported by Hui (2010) that 83% from all Facebook users in Malaysia are the youths. Studies in Malaysia show that Malaysian youths primarily share thoughts and feelings through social media sites. Moreover, youths use social media site because it also represents freedom (Ali et al., 2010; Latiffah et al., 2009; Levi & Samsudin, 2010).

Youths consist of 40% of the overall Malaysian population (Economic Planning Unit, 2010). Thus, it shows that youths are the most significant age group in Malaysia. Youths are the future of a country. When youths of Malaysia come into contact with this negatively-oriented information, they might be affected mentally and the healthy-mind makeup of them might be influenced by the negative information.

Former Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr. Mahathir Mohamad suggested that “The internet is not the free alternative to the state-controlled print and electronic media it is touted to be. It is subject to even more censorship than Governments could exercise. The people who [host] these platforms and servers can censor. And various other means are available to the powerful controllers of the new media for them to censor in the interest of their politics” on August, 2014 through his blog (Advocacy, 2014).

Government of Malaysia has been taking actions against these online negatively-oriented information (ex. Rumours, scandals, nude photo cases…), especially on social medias, by censoring the sites that are flooded with negatively-oriented information or spreading groups and taking charge of people who spread these. However, this did not seem to be effective as the social media that are commonly and frequently used to spread the negatively-oriented information are the sites that taking a great part of people lives, for example, Facebook and Twitter. Censoring these sites becomes impossible as it will induce a great rebound from the public. The only solution the government can resort to is shutting down spreading groups and catching people who initiated it, but there are always new upcoming groups and people who turn the government’s solution into useless and just wasting its effort. The failure is obviously seen and proved in China’s censorship, China Government has been making effort to delete anything online that either posed as authoritative government outlets or related to terrorism, violence and pornography (The Diplomat, 2015). There is a huge rebound among China citizens and they have successfully sorted out ways to reconnect the sites that have been censored. It is therefore undeniable that censorship on social media sites not only unsuccessful but also will result in confliction between citizens and the government.

Ministry of Education Malaysia can contribute its role in solving this phenomenon. As the ones that share and the ones that are affected are the youth, it is obviously that youths are the only and main target in this case. Educating from the root, prophylaxis before anything happens will be the more appropriate and effective way. Context about teaching what the suitable and appropriate things are should be shared to the public, how they should make use of social media wisely (ex. Sharing academic links) and how they should view and filter the information available online before they absorb should be added into the textbook or tutorials in school. Campaigns concerning these should be held to raise awareness among youths too.

Tit-for-tat, as the negatively-oriented information mainly floods the social media, so the most effective way to encounter it is to post information about how negatively-oriented information will affect our mind and mental growth, and how a make-up of a future adult will be affected on social media too. Youths may ignore or become distracted or not pay attention when this information is being given in school lessons or tutorials or campaigns, but they will probably not give up on social media. Youths tend to pay more attention to things posted on social media therefore posting the information on social media will be a better trick to convey the messages to the youths.

In conclusion, youths are the future make-up of a country and anything that might affect youths negatively should never be neglected as they that might cause damage to a country’s future construct. Authorities should examine the solutions being currently used and come out with the most effective solutions, there should not be any marking time. “The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.”--J.P. Morgan.

(810 words)

Reference List:

Ali, S., Mohd, Y. H. A., Mohd, S. H., & Latiffah, P. (2010). Sustainability of internet usage: A study among malay youth in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Malaysian Journal of Communication, 26, 62-72.

Blumler, J. G., & Katz, E. (1974). The uses of mass communications: Current perspectives on gratifications research. Beverly Hills, C.A.: Sage Pub.

Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister Department. (2010). Population by sex, ethnic group and age, Malaysia, 2010. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: n. a.. Retrieved March 6, 2012, from http://www.epu.gov.my

Hui, L. Y. (2010). Fastest growing Asian countries in Facebook. Grey Review: The Social Web Journal. Retrieved from http://www.greyreview.com/2010/06/02/fastest-growing-asian-countries-on-facebook/

Mong Palatino (2014). Malaysia’s Longest Serving PM Repeats Call to Censor the Internet Malaysia’s Longest Serving PM Repeats Call to Censor the Internet . Retrieved from http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2014/08/05/malaysias-longest-serving-pm-repeats-call-to-censor-the-internet/

Othman, Z. (August 11, 2011). The power of social networking. Bernama Blis. Retrieved from http://blis2.bernama.com

Shannon Tiezzi (2015). Why China's Defense of Internet Censorship Falls Flat. Retrieved from http://thediplomat.com/2015/02/why-chinas-defense-of-internet-censorship-falls-flat/

Essay Draft#1

(Blumler & Katz, 1974). Findings showed that youth always (five to seven days per week) use social media to share information including personal information.  Muhammad Muhsin Ahmad Zahari (2012, as cited in Rosmah Dain, 2012) claimed that youth in Malaysia use the social media sites to share their problems and most of them are inclined towards negative things.

Othman (2011) shows that youth is the heaviest user of the Internet and this is due to the existing social media sites. This is further supported by (Hui, 2010) that 83% from all Facebook users in Malaysia are the youth. Studies in Malaysia show that Malaysian youth primarily share thoughts and feelings through social media sites. Moreover, youth use social media site because it also represents freedom (Ali et al., 2010; Latiffah et al., 2009; Levi & Samsudin, 2010).

Youth consist of 40% of the overall Malaysian population (Economic Planning Unit, 2010). Thus, it shows that youth is the most significant age group in Malaysia. Youth is the future of a country. When youth of Malaysia come into contact with these negatively-oriented information, they might be affected mentally and the healthy-mind makeup of them might be influenced by the negative information.

Government of Malaysia has been taking actions against these online negatively-oriented information (ex. Rumors, scandals, nude photo cases…), especially on social medias, by sensoring the sites that are flooded with negatively-oriented information or spreading groups and taking charge of people who spread these. However, this did not seem to be effective as the social media that are commonly and frequently used to spread the negatively-oriented information are the sites that taking a great part of people lives, for example, Facebook and Twitter. Sensoring these sites becomes impossible as it will induce a great rebound from the public. The only solution the government can resort to is shutting down spreading groups and catching people who initiated it, but there are always new upcoming groups and people which turns the government’s solution into useless and just wasting its effort.

Ministry of Education Malaysia can contribute its role in solving this phenomena. As the ones that share and the ones that are affected are the youth, it is obviously that youth is our only and main target in this case. Educating from the root, prophylaxis before anything happens will be the more appropriate and effective way. Context about teaching what are the suitable and appropriate things should be shared to the public, how should they make use of social media wisely (ex. Sharing academic links) and how should they view and filter the information available online before they absorb should be added into the textbook or tutorials in school. Campaigns concerning these should be held to raise awareness among youth too.

Tit-for-tat, as the negatively-oriented information mainly floods the social media, so the most effective way to encounter it is to post information about how negatively-oriented information will affect our mind and mental growth, and how a make-up of a future adult will be affected on social media too. Youth might ignore or distracted, or not paying attention when these information being given in school lessons or tutorials or campaigns, but they will never give up on social media. Youth tend to pay  more attention to things posted on social media therefore posting the information on social media will be a better trick to convey the messages to the youths.

In conclusion, youth are the future make-up of a country and anything that might affect youth negatively should never be neglected as they that might cause damage to a country’s future construct. Authorities should examine the solutions being currently used and come out with the most effective solutions, there should not be any marking time. “The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.--J.P. Morgan”

(642 words)

Essay outline

Main problem: social media use by youth in Malaysia to share negatively-oriented information

Affected group: youth  of Malaysia who  come into contact with these negatively-oriented information, they are affected mentally, thinking and philosophy of them are affected.

Agent to change: Government of Malaysia

Solution 1: Malaysia Government shut down websites which are flooded by negatively-oriented information (ex. Rumors, scandals, nude photo cases…)

Evaluation 1: ineffective, as social media sites (ex. Facebook, twitter, instagram…) not likely to be sensored, or else a big rebound from public. Therefore, government can only sensor the pages or groups involved, but there will still be new ones upcoming.

Solution 2: educate from the root 1 : schools ( primary school, secondary school and high school) . educate on what to share and what not to share, how to make use of social media wisely, ex. Sharing academic links

Evaluation 2: these schools should be targeted as the youth that frequently use social media are ranged from 10-20 years old.

Solution 3: tit for tat: posts on social media

Evaluation 3: about how negatively-oriented information will  affect our mind and mental growth, and how a make-up of a future adult will be affected

 (Blumler & Katz, 1974). Findings showed that youth always (five to seven days per week) use social media to share information including personal information. Results also showed that youth used the social media more for sharing negatively-oriented information compared to the positively-oriented information. strong relationship between frequency of use and the negatively-oriented information-sharing activities.

Muhammad Muhsin Ahmad Zahari (2012, as cited in Rosmah Dain, 2012) claimed that youth in Malaysia use the social media sites to share their problems and most of them are inclined towards negative things.

Noorriati Din, Saadiah Yahya, and Raja Suzana Raja Kassim (2012) agreed that a social media site also increases the quality of youth life since it serves variety of information and knowledge for the youth.

youth consist of 40% of the overall Malaysian population (Economic Planning Unit, 2010). Thus, it shows that youth is the most significant age group in Malaysia. youth is the future of a country.

Othman (2011) shows that youth is the heaviest user of the Internet and this is due to the existing social media sites.

83% from all Facebook users in Malaysia are the youth (Hui, 2010)

Studies in Malaysia show that Malaysian youth primarily share thoughts and feelings through social media sites. Moreover, youth use social media site because it also represents freedom (Ali et al., 2010; Latiffah et al., 2009; Levi & Samsudin, 2010)

a study in Malaysia shows that female youth in Malaysia share online shopping inclination through social media sites whereby they share information on products advertised online and later  buy it through online as well (Khalil & Ameen, 2012). In contrast, it is reported that male youth sustainably engaged with social media sites due to availability to play games online and to discuss on football and computer software (Ali et al., 2010)

A study conducted by Rozita, Nazri, and Ahmad (2010) shows that ethnic polarization between Malay and non-Malay students is widening due to social media sites because the students only choose to connect to someone they really want and they must surely be among their own race. Rozita et al. (2010), social media sites are used by the different races in Malaysia for different purpose and in a different way. Culture of each race influences the way of the social media sites is used. Besides culture, the different ethnicities also use their own mother-tongue while communicating with their friends in the social media sites.

Popular positive-oriented activities which are noticed among youth are to share notes on religious values, to share academic-related news while the negative-related activities are to share links related to entertainment and to share latest photos.

Results showed that for the positive-oriented information-sharing activities, the only factor of the social media use is the number of education information posted (r = 0.188, p = 0.000). Even though the relationship is very small, but it is significant enough to show that education-related information can predict the possibility of youth to be engaged in the positive-oriented information-sharing activities

moderate positive relationship between negative-oriented information-sharing activities with the number of general information posted on the wall, encompassing the sharing of photos, activities, feelings, videos and music, and links. The relationships between the negative-oriented information-sharing activities are weakly with the number of favorites and personal profile posted on the wall. The relationships between the negative-oriented information-sharing and the number of sites subscribed to, communication contact posted, and education information posted are very weak, yet significant.

An Influential Event

                An influential event that decided my ambition is the unfortunate that happened on my mother in 2003. I was 8 years old, and my mother was 35 years old then. I had been told that my mother was suffering from cancer, and after approximately 7 months, cancer took my mother away from me.

                I did not know what kind of cancer that tortured my mother, and I did not know how it harmed my mother, all I knew was cancer cannot be cured. As I grow up, I learnt more about anatomy and physiology, and I learnt how does “cancer” initiate and how does it cause its impact on human bodies. I learnt these from the science lessons being taught in school and from the articles that I read. But I never learn how cancer can be cured from the root. When I was 14 years old, an anti-cancer drug was announced and scientists proclaimed that it can destroy the mutated cells; however it damages the hosts’ cells as well.

                When I was 16 years old, I faced the problem that I had to choose to enter either science or arts stream, after seeing the chemotherapy that is ineffective yet suffers my mother more, and the anti-cancer drug that causes a huge adverse effect, I decided to step into science field to learn more and to contribute some in cancer cure one day. Holding that faith on myself, I am now in the pharmaceutical field, and I believe that one day my knowledge and passion will be contributed to coming out with one therapy or drug possessing optimum therapeutic effect with least adverse effect.

(274 words)