Don't just follow the herd, think critically Recently, a television soap opera has become very popular with my classmates. They all imitate the characters and are always discussing the story. Because I haven't seen it, I can't join in. A similar thing happened not long ago when a friend of mine showed me a brand of pen he said had become popular. For a moment, I wondered whether I should I buy one too. Every time I see people around me all doing the same thing, I ask myself whether I should join them. If the answer is yes, I am a follower. But if I don't follow, I will become an outsider. I still prefer not to follow because I don't want to be part of the herd. Most people simply follow the others. They think it's a safe way to get through life. Even if what everyone is doing is wrong, it often feels easier to join them than to make waves. We can call this phenomenon the 'herd mentality'. We all have to be followers in certain situations. For example, when we learn a language, we have to imitate the pronunciation if we want people to understand us. But there are plenty of examples of following being a bad thing. Take drug abuse among students - some students become addicted to drugs because they follow their friends. Following mindlessly can have bad consequences. We need to think about the pros and cons of our choices. We need to think critically. There is nothing wrong with being a follower if we know why. If we haven't thought it through, we are simply being part of a herd. Kelvin Chiang Kok-sheung, STFA Lee Shau Kee College When Facebook becomes unhealthy More and more teenagers are becoming addicted to the social networking website Facebook. My friend John is a typical example. At 14, he does not go out and interact with people. He is a Facebook junkie. He signed up a year ago and now he logs in first thing every morning before brushing his teeth. He says Facebook puts him in touch with many people, and he has a network of some 500 friends, most of whom he has never met. It flatters him that people add him after seeing his pictures. Facebook is his entire social life. He is always late for school and falls asleep in class. All he thinks about is his next Facebook fix. This kind of behaviour is compulsive. He feels the need to acquire as many friends as possible and this obsession has taken over his life. I think social networking can be an addiction like any other form of addiction - drinking, drugs or gambling. If you are a Facebook addict like my friend and spend all your time accumulating online friends, it's time to wake up and get a life. We should have real social networks, not imaginary ones. Michael, SKH Lam Woo Memorial Secondary School Reflections on undercover police A policewoman recently posed undercover as a student to investigate drug use at a school. It led to a territory-wide debate, which mostly focused on the fact that the chief of police had to apologise because the name of the Fanling school was leaked. According to the terms of co-operation between the school and the police, the name of the school was supposed to remain confidential. Personally, I wonder how the students felt when they realised that one of their classmate was actually an undercover policewoman. They might be excited because they shared their days with a 'special' schoolmate. They might also feel that they had been fooled and it would be difficult in future to trust anyone. I would be very interested to hear from the students how they felt about their experience and what effects it has had on the class spirit. Anora Wong, Hang Seng School of Commerce
