Many people have preconceived ideas and stereotypes which are probably erroneous, and built walls between cultures. Stereotypes are generalised beliefs by which we make sense of the world around us, REGARDLESS of context or accuracy. Now, the word is regardless. Whoever we are, whatever we do, our own thoughts just HAVE to be right. We do not need evidence whatsoever, to prove our points. If we encounter one behaviour from a particular culture, the whole culture is definitely bound to be like that. Even when we see something contradictory, we ignore it and the old idea still surfaces. Admit it. You are like that, I'm like that, and everyone is. But why? Why can't we grow up and see things from a different perspective? Well i guess, its the way we grow up and communicate in our societies. We learn many things about how we are supposed to live, act and be. These stereotypes have been fed to us since birth, and cause a great deal of confusion and frustration to people who don't quite fit those rules. But hey, that does not mean you should say " See! It's not my fault that i think this way. " Well i'm pretty sure it is. The very fact that you have not come to realise the importance in changing that mindset as you grow older, and learnt to adapt to different cultures, boils down to your own ignorance. I think that in order to change the negative impacts that stereotyping has on society, we should change the way we see selected groups. See each person as an individual and not a label. The video by Russell is extremely hilarious. But at the same time allows us to think again, how did those different stereotypes form in the first place?

I'm rather astonished as to how the Handphone has gradually incorporated itself into the lifes of human beings these days. People just can't seem to live without their phones, often feeling "naked" and incomplete without them. I was watching Ugly Betty the other day(for the few who don't know what that is, it's a comedy series about a girl who the society considers ugly, and how she adapts to her high fashioned career as a personal assistant in a fashion magazine, which entirely contradicts her geeky look and outdated sense of fashion). They had this scene where Betty was supposed to go out for an expensive dinner with her boyfriend(another geeky but HOTT guy)on her birthday and was looking forward to it the whole time. Unfortunately, at the last minute her boyfriend could not make it and left a voice message on her mobile phone telling her "NOT to go to the restaurant". However, there was a problem in the network or reception and the message was cut, only leaving the part "go to the restaurant". Thus, she delightfully went there, ended up waiting for hrs and had dinner by herself. Poor Betty. So do you see how the Handphone can have such an impact on us? We go through so much of distress, anxiety and even shed tears if we receive an unexpected message which for all you know might not be the intended one. All this due to this little communication device. Although it is interactive and tries to mimick face to face communication, transactional communication is still the best way to convey messages. Although there is noise present, feedback is quick and misinterpretaions can be solved immediately unlike interactive devices where the process is sequential and the time lapse can cause deep emotional scars. People might also find it more difficult to organise their thoughts into words during interactive communication than face to face(where nonverbal expressions can also be used). Therefore, they might not be conveying their message correctly. Thus, I think we should not give a huge amount of importance to our mobile phones and should be confident in doing the job ourselves.