By Xiyu Liu, Irelia Wang and Scarlett Wang  Electronic products have gradually become an inseparable part of our day-to-day lives with smart watches occupying an increasingly important position in the watch market.    These watches are smaller than mobile phones and computers but can achieve more with their numerous functions and although they bring a lot of convenience to our lives, our dependence on these electronic products may not necessarily be a good thing.  Are we too dependent on these electronic products? What are the advantages and disadvantages of current smart watches and assistants?    Let’s ask the youth!  To better understand … Continue reading Smart Watches and Assistants: Are we too dependent on them? 

By Iris Feng, Xiaoxiao Liu and Crystal Zheng  After the outbreak of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, our lives have changed dramatically. We were forced to stay at home and change our current lifestyles.  For students at least, the big change was online teaching – what we had “always” dreamt of. Students’ learning patterns and teachers’ teaching methods changed almost completely, requiring a different kind of critical thinking to follow ideas of the past.   Regarding the rest of us, the pandemic had brought back an even bigger change – bring us back to our old ways of life, like enjoying a … Continue reading Back-to-basics: A Step in the Right Direction?  

By Esther Feng, Tina Tian, Rain Peng and Farley Han  There is no sincerer love than the love of food. – George Bernard Shaw As defined in the Oxford dictionary, snacking is all about ‘eating to make oneself feel happier, rather than to satisfy hunger’. Being a light informal meal, snacks are not suited for lunch and dinner.  Some people can often not control themselves when snacking because they think that it doesn’t amount to much. As such, it is very common to see a lot of people eat to their liking, giving them a certain kind of happiness that may boost the dopamine … Continue reading What’s Snackin’: the Joys of Comfort Food

By Rita Dong, Yihan Li and Lin Shui The arrival of the Information Age has led to subtle algorithmic listening from the machines we have integrated into our lives.    Algorithmic listening is inevitable and can be seen anywhere there are technologies that can identify and interpret sounds. It’s more than just collecting information about users’ preferences through their phones or having a conversation with the smart device in your hand.     Under algorithmic listening, the information is transparent, and users have almost no privacy. The excessive intelligence of these electronic products makes people anxious and panic, doubting whether any personal … Continue reading All Hail the Algorithm? 

By Julian Ortega and Darina Sushkova  Joshua was your average Christian boy. He had to pray every night, go to mass on Sundays and holidays, abstain from meat during certain seasons, have confession every few months, and so much more. Sounds like a lot, right? Joshua thought so too! Jesus wasn’t doing it for him, so he became a Jedi follower instead.   What is a modern religion?  Modern religions or new religious movements are systems of belief or pursuits of virtue with great devotion modelled after contemporary ideas and are rooted in modern origins – which is, pretty cool actually.  Jediism … Continue reading Modern Religions and Movements: How Relevant Are They to You? 

What does the future hold for Gen Z? Clara and Jelita go there. Follow if you dare! Continue reading What can we expect for our future? Gen Z speaks out. 

Who are the Love Generation and how are they challenging traditional family models? Emika, Jeje and Rianna explain all Continue reading The Love Generation – redefining marriage and family models  

Andre and Arora know what a struggle it can be to take charge of who you are. They share their wisdom Continue reading Choose your identity – don’t let someone else choose it for you!

How did you end up with your friendship group? Natasha and Kenneth shed some light on what binds us together Continue reading Who is in your hang? 

What does ‘respect’ mean now? Is there more or less of it? Vivian and Anan have some answers Continue reading What does it mean to be respectful in the 21st century?