Author: Anvita

Life during Circuit Breaker

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Posted in Activities and Service PSE, Goals and Reflections

“We human beings are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others’ actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others’ activities.” – Dalai Lama

Humans are social creates and I feel this has made it especially challenging for us to cope with social distance. Seeing the same faces 24/7 and being unable to travel, explore, and meet our friends has impacted many people’s social and mental wellbeings negatively. I believe I am a happy person, I enjoy meeting new people and learning new things. Luckily many of my friends and I have access to a steady wifi network which makes connecting through social platforms easy. With a click of a button I can call my friends, laugh, joke, and smile with them. To improve my social wellbeing I talk to my friends often with the use of apps like Whatsapp, Instagram, TikTok, and primarily Snapchat. Recently I experienced my first Netflix party, this extension allows us to watch movies and shows with others. After trying this once my friends and I have decided to do this at least once a week. From sitting with each other every day at lunch to once a week calls we have adapted. I think this epidemic has allowed us to find new creative ways to connect with each other.

Talking to friends and social wellbeing is incredibly important to me, however constantly looking at screens, texting, video chatting, and snapping don’t always have the best impact on my wellbeing. In addition to that the 8 hours of remote learning (not including homework and other tutoring classes) has significantly increased my screentime. Though using our screens during this time is necessary it is also important to take breaks. For my mental wellbeing, I try to play games like sudoku and chess. I feel that these calm my mind but also have additional benefits, it’s challenging but it improves my problem-solving. Another aspect of my wellbeing that I am aware of is my physical wellbeing. To take care of my physical wellbeing I follow workout plans which give me exercise videos to follow every day. I also occasionally go cycling with my dad. During this circuit breaker I completed my first (and second) 70km ride. I feel like I have and will continue to make this circuit breaker a positive experience for me rather than just seeing it as an inconvenience. I think it is important to have a positive mindset and make the best of every situation you are in.

Trying to write Dystopian fiction

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Posted in IGCSE work

The FLAG

I guess the FLAG is what historians would call a government, of sorts, yet incredibly different. The FLAG was like a god, she heard everything, saw everything, and controlled everything.  It was wonderful. It wasn’t a person, more a sentient all-knowing god.

It was May 15th, 8:00 pm, I remember because I saw my first vehicle accident. People were bleeding, the hoverer was on fire and there was debris everywhere. Everyone just stood there confused, I wasn’t scared or worried, but a few minutes went by without any sirens that’s when it clicked. We all just stared, perhaps there was a malfunction if that was even possible. It started going dark, the screens, the sky then every street light. The panic started setting in.

Shock Advertising

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Posted in IGCSE work

Shock advertising is a technique which tries to capture the viewer’s attention, using memorable and often slightly dark or inappropriate images. It can be really effective to send a message, however, it may not always be the message the company intended to send. These three ads have many things in common. For example, they have darker colour schemes which match the types of images on them. The first ad is a fashion ad by SISLEY which says fashion junkie, viewers immediately think of these girls looking intoxicate because they are snorting clothes. I think it tries to connect their brand to people who are high end, elite and edgy. I think it sends the wrong message that their clothes are like drugs insinuating that frugs are cool. The second shock ad is a campaign for driving within the speed limit. I think though the image is shocking it is not that inappropriate because it is showing something people know to be true. The brutal honesty of the campaign will connect to viewers because seeing an innocent-looking child next to a skull sends a message. It urges people to stay within the speed limit and plays with their emotion saying that in the scenario where they listen this kid may have a chance to survive. The last advertisement is from a noise-cancelling headphone brand ( Sennheiser), from the image we can infer that due to the noise-cancelling headphones he was not able to hear his surrounding and thus was the victim of an accident. This glorifies the noise-cancelling ability of the headphones. I think unlike the first one it is not as inappropriate and may even have some humour laced in. I think it could be considered funny because it is slightly dramatised and unrealistic. 

Political Cartoon Commentary

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Posted in IGCSE work

This cartoon is about the #METOO movement. This movement tries to combat sexual harassment by allowing survivors to come forward and show the world just how common sexual harassment is.

The way the cartoonist colours the #metoo sign in bright red helps highlight the issue and contextualising the entire cartoon. There are also labels behind them telling the viewers that this is the “Miss America pageant. The cartoonist shows this issue in the scene of a pageant to mock the issue. There are half-naked women holding these letters which can be inferred as potential victims who are holding the signs. It could also be interpreted as them trying to participate in this movement as a show of support. Whichever it is, it also guides the viewer to believe that they are only doing this to be a part of the trend so they could gain more viewers. The portrayal of the #metoo with these women show this pageant as insensitive as people who have been sexually abused would probably not want to be hyper-sexualised on television. I think the cartoonist also draws all these pageant women very similar to make a comment on the media, beauty standards in Hollywood and fame. The women have similar body shapes, heels, hairstyles smiles with the occasional change in skin colour, this makes the viewer think about the restrictive beauty standards which are shown in Hollywood. It could also be a comment on the requirements of fame in Hollywood. Alongside the Me too movement, many celebrities participated in the times up campaign which gave the world an inside look of how many female Hollywood stars had to stay quiet about sexual assault to show their talents. The cartoon could imply that so many of these women have faced assault in order to be famous.

Another aspect of this cartoon is the old couple watching them. The pair are watching this pageant in their living room and they seem to be having a casual conversation about it. The speech in the quote bubbles shows how indifferent the couple is about this issue. The illustrator may be implying that there is a gap between the younger and older generation when it comes towards accepting sexual assault.

The Corona Virus and “Lockdown”

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Posted in Uncategorized

We are currently facing a global epidemic. More than 1.4 million people have suffered and the numbers are still rising. Singapore has officially started lockdown 2 days ago (on Tuesday 7th April). I feel Singapore was very hesitant to start the lockdown because of how dependent their economy is on services. The Singaporean lifestyle is very consumer-based and requires people to be shopping and working. When the first case came to Singapore months ago the government didn’t make much of an effort to control it and relied solely on temperature screenings. As the cases increased they left casinos and theme parks open. I can, however, understand why the government was very slow. Many Singaporean citizens who work in low paying jobs like hawker centres or other retail industries rely on their wages to survive in this expensive countries, some of them live in small populated HDB’s putting them at risk of catching and spreading the virus. I think being on Lockdown is going to be especially hard for them because some of them rely on their weekly income for basic supplies. I think the government really struggled with the trade-off between financial struggle and health struggles. I think Singapore can’t afford to be complacent with their rules because once the virus starts spreading it is likely going to spread very quickly. We are starting to see that happen, at this time there are 1,623 cases. I feel like the after-effects of this virus is going so much worse than SARS as the total SARS cases got to 238 with only 33 deaths. We have surpassed the cases but not the deaths. I feel like ex-pats like myself are lucky in the sense that many of our parents have the ability to work from home and the fact that more of us live in private condominiums which are arguably safer as they are less populated.