WHAT would our world become if technology overtook humanity? This is a familiar theme in many apocalyptic dystopian books and movies. As we advance well into the digital age, this future is not so hard to imagine.
This future of technology dependence is beautifully captured in Netflix’s latest movie, Next Gen. The film shows the unlikely friendship between a girl and a robot as they work together to take down the villain. Despite its very common storyline, it has managed to encapsulate the message of mindfulness.
In the midst of our busy schedules and hectic lifestyles, we often forget to stop and enjoy our surroundings. Every day, we are bent over our mobile phones and slaving away on our laptops, whether by desire or by necessity. Take a break from virtual interactions and work hard at maintaining personal friendships with real people.
However, in our fast-paced world, virtual connections are no doubt much easier to keep track of, especially with Facebook’s newest data center located in Singapore. As the Asian market is growing at a breakneck pace, Facebook plans to start operations by 2022. It will be utilizing a broadband fiber network for faster user access to uploaded photos and videos.
While Facebook is not present in China, students there face a different problem of their own: a lack of free WiFi. However, cost is not the issue, but access.
Schools are trying to provide the WiFi passwords to students by first letting them solve a puzzle. Students from China’s Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics are required to solve a calculus equation while those from Xinyuan Library Restaurant are tasked to solve a musical notation problem.
School officials consider this a good move towards making sure students are paying attention in class since only those who have listened can solve the problems.
However, students note that only a select few students need to have access, as the rest will just have to ask for the answer. Somehow I don’t think this will be a very good way to access WiFi in Philippine schools.