Republic of the Philippines

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Alangilan Campus
Alangilan, Batangas City

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURE & FINE ARTS

THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

ACTIVITY I
STRUCTURES OF GLOBALIZATION

Name: Peñaflor, Marren Jeirelle M. Date: March 4, 2021

Section: ME - 1209

Part I
In the 21st century, social media has played a major role in man’s everyday life. Since man has
the freedom to use and misuse such platform, it gives advantages and disadvantages. In line
with such reality, what are the advantages and disadvantages of social media in the following
aspects (please maximize your answer in not more than 7 sentences):

➔ Social life
In terms of our social life, one of the advantages of social media in our lives is that it has
expanded our social circle and what our social circle could reach. Communication with other
people, may they be near or far, has been made easier and more convenient through social
media. Additionally, long-distance connection, communication, and relationship are now
possible because of social media. However, it is also because of those said advantages that we
have been more inclined in using social media as our means of communicating and connecting
with other people rather than communicating and connecting with them in real life. We have
started to extremely rely on social media that we have lost our ability to connect with each other
on a deeper and more personal level that communication on social media could never achieve.

➔ Mental Health
In the aspect of our mental health, one of the advantages of social media is that it helps us
alleviate our feelings somehow by being a place where we can release our unsaid thoughts and
feelings. And as said earlier, social media helps us communicate with other people as quickly as
possible which is, again, an advantage because we can immediately ask for someone’s help or
sometimes, all we need is just someone to talk to, may it be a friend; a family member; or even
a professional. However, the disadvantage of social media is that because it is a place where
can let out our feelings, it is also a place full of watching eyes, judgment, or worse, ridicule. And
due to this, it affects our mental health negatively. Moreover, social media creates bizarre and
unreachable standards (or trends), and we are led to believe that if we do not follow it, we are
not good enough or we do not fit in. In short, although social media can be an outlet for our
feelings, it is also a place full of toxicity and judgment.

➔ Perspectives and Preferences

In terms of our perspectives and preferences, the advantage of social media is that it has
opened us to a world full of new and differing perspectives and preferences and it has caused
us to become more aware of what is happening in our society. Through social media, we can
discover and learn new concepts every day. In short, social media has broadened our lives and
our way of thinking. However, like what is said in the disadvantage of social media to our mental
health, social media creates unreachable standards. At times, we even alter our perspectives
and preferences just to fit in the world we live in today that revolves around social media. And
the worst part is, sometimes we also tend to change ourselves to fit others’ perspectives and
preferences.

Part II
Global governance is a movement aimed at making solutions to problems affecting more than
one state or region. There are certain problems that really need to be addressed and solved in
order for such not to escalate to a more serious global challenge. In line with these, site three
(3) world problems that challenged global governance of the 21st century (please explain
and describe each problem in not more than 7 sentences).

Example:
Terrorism: the 9-11 Attack
The September 11 attack, (often referred to as 9-11), was a series of attacks by the terrorist
group Al-Qaeda against the United States. It is the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of man. The
attacks resulted in almost 3,000 fatalities and some post-event issues such as health issues, economic
crisis, and cultural concerns. A more strict government policies against terrorism was also devised which
led to an American-led global counterterrorism campaign, “war on terrorism”.

➔ Global Health: The Coronavirus: COVID-19 Pandemic

At the start of 2020, After the outbreak in China in December 2019, the World Health
Organization (WHO) declared SARS-CoV-2 as a new kind of coronavirus. The COVID-19
outbreak spread across the globe at a rapid rate. COVID-19 is a disease rooting from the
SARS-CoV-2 that gives rise to a respiratory tract infection (as what doctors would call it). The
upper respiratory tract (sinuses, nose, and throat) and lower respiratory tract (windpipe and
lungs) are the affected areas. As of March 5, 2021, there are 115, 289, 961 confirmed COVID-
19 cases; 2,564,560 confirmed deaths; and 223 countries, areas, territories are still infected with
COVID-19. To address this concerning virus, community quarantine and travel ban were
implemented in various countries around the world. Moreover, the use of face mask and face
shield is strictly observed.

➔ Natural Disaster: 2010 Haiti Earthquake

The 2010 Haiti earthquake is a large-scale earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 that
happened on the West Island of Hispaniola, which includes the countries Haiti and the
Dominican Republic, on January 12, 2010. This earthquake was considered the most
devastating natural disaster to ever happen in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western
hemisphere, with roughly 3 million people who were affected. An estimate of 250,000 deaths
and 300,00 injured people were recorded. Furthermore, approximately 1.5 million people were
forced to reside in an internally displaced person camp temporarily. Therefore, the country,
Haiti, encountered the greatest humanitarian crisis in history. The earthquake emergency
response team of Haiti helped approximately 2 million individuals during the first 90 days after
the devastating disaster.

➔ Environment: Australian Wildfires (2020)

According to scientists, approximately 3 billion animals were affected by the worst wildfire
season of Australia that ignited from July 2019 to March 2020. 143 million mammals, 2.46 billion
reptiles, 180 million birds, and 51 million frogs were some of the affected wildlife. Furthermore,
the media report stated that as of the middle of January 2020, roughly 18 million hectares
(including 5,900 buildings and 2,800 of those buildings were homes) have burned in the
Australian bushfire 2019-2020. Stronger unburnt habitat protection and the implementation of
quick response teams to save affected species and habitats in future occurrences of wildfire
were advised by the report. Van Eeden stated that this discovery can assist "to better
understand what this means to threatened species and ecosystems and perhaps also in inform
management actions and how we plan for these sorts of things happening in future." as bizarre
and severe weather and fires happens more often along with climate change.