How Digital Era Change Consumer Behaviour

Millennial and smartphone are two things that inseparable these days. The data showed in the article is that 90% of millennial uses smartphone. It means that social media is on their fingertips.  Furthermore, there is a changing habit caused by smartphone, millennial is no longer going to the supermarket to buy groceries, but they prefer to use a smartphone to shop on their favorite e-commerce. In this essay, I will examine three example of changes in the marketing world due to extreme use of technology and digital platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Tokopedia.

First, we won't see the ads we don't need. Pre-internet era the only entertainment we have is TV. When you watch your favorites series, you will be interrupted with a bunch of ads. The internet era has shifted the way we see ads.  We can identify demographics of internet users, for example as the article has stated that millennial with kids prefer Pinterest, while the youngsters prefer Twitter and Instagram, and Facebook still the most favorite platform for the internet users generally.  So, we already learn this demographic. What can it do? The demographics of internet users can help in planning on targeting ads to consumers. Facebook has an algorithm which can target ads based on the likes of their users so the ads will be effective. Same as the Instagram algorithm that allows their ads to pop up on users based on the search history.  The traditional word-of-mouth has been replaced with the word-of-web obviously. 

Second, a moment of truth. Remember 10 years challenge that has been circulating all over social media? No, I'm not going to talk about your evolution of your haircut or how your body has changed. Why do I talk about the ten years because I want you to look back on how we buy things 10 years ago. Ten years ago when we need shampoo, we merely go to the nearest shop. Our decision to pick a shampoo will be based on our visual stimulus. The color of the bottle, then we will take a look at the information provided if we like the product we will choose it. P&G marketers introduced this model. The frameworks captured the consumer decision process (first moment),  experiencing the product (the second moment of truth, and eventually become the customer. However, this model wasn't used anymore. A decision made by consumer no longer based on the moment of truth, in fact,  the consumer will search the reviews on the web before buying anything.  

Third, zero journeys and zero moments of truth. Let's go back to the shampoo story. As a customer, we have access to our smartphone, and the internet goes beyond supermarkets when we look for a review. We tend to look for "the best", "the cheapest," and so on depends on your preference. So, we'll go the web to search all of that. In fact, instead of having a journey to the supermarket, we tend to choose the easy way, Tokopedia. This change makes e-commerce proliferate since 2015. 

In conclusion, so you know how powerful the digital era is. What you can do now is that we must begin our step to prevail in this digital age. First, you need to learn how "the buzzwords" works. Second, invest in technology.  Artificial intelligence is getting smarter, cheaper, and easier. With the right technology, you can accurately target your audience. Lastly is don't stop to experiment. Digital platforms are the best learning experiment, and the good news is that it often free. So, don't hesitate to experiment.

Blunt Opinion on Beauty Pageant; Add or Eliminate?

According to Wikipedia, a beauty pageant is a contest that mainly focuses on the physical beauty of its contestants. The contests often incorporate personality, talent, and answers to judges’ questions as criteria. The beauty pageant can be traced back a century ago, but the first modern beauty pageant began in 1920 when the first beauty contest was documented in a hotel in Atlantic City. However, the event was not meant to compete for beauty but to promote the hotel. Yet, the documentation gained positive feedback from the audience; it created more contest with similar ideology. Then in 1951, Eric Moley founded Miss World, and the following year Miss Universe was founded. Later in1960 the first Little America Pageant was formed. This event introduced the children into a beauty pageant. 

Nowadays, beauty pageants claimed that they serve a purpose; it's not only about looks but also promote self-confidence, leadership, poise, and public speaking. However, the first requirement to enter a beauty contest hasn't changed since centuries ago. The primary requirement is that the contenders must be tall and slim. These things caused fatalities among audiences and contenders. A story that posted on seventeen.com (link below) by Christa Brown depicted the struggle of being Pageants contestant. According to Christa, even she's been told the judges/interviewer to become herself, the judges implicit her to lose weight. Furthermore, on the D day, Christa saw many girls struggled to stay thin, they took laxatives and ate baby food only. 

So, are they good or bad? Let me break it down to you. According to debate.com. Beauty pageants have pros and cons. 

Pros

• Help get rid of stage fright and boost confidence
• Teach public speaking
• Helps girls feel beautiful inside and out
• Provides scholarships and grants
• Teaches girls to express themselves
• Gives girls an alternative for sports

Cons

• Promotes sexist views, objectifying and sexualizing girls
• Lowers self-esteem because of the primary emphasis on physical beauty
• Makes women more cocky than confident
• Pressures women to strive for unattainable perfection, leading to depression, low self-esteem, eating disorders and poor body-image

The table above shows that the cons are more serious than what we think. It's destructing. Without proper understanding about the sole purpose of beauty pageant both for contenders and audiences, it might do more harm than good. 

And what's the point of beauty pageant?

The answer may be tricky. Well, for a contestant, a little bit of sparkly tiara, a beautiful nightgown, and pretty makeup won't hurt. It's about freedom of expression. Some girls like the attention and exposure, and that's okay. If they won, they can also do charity works and advance social works that matter to them. It will become easier since the publicity gained during the event. Also, during the event, the contestant will meet new people, it's called networking. For the audience, it's just a matter of entertainment. The contests are meant to entertain, and that's it.

In reality, it's unlikely that the contests serve its sole purpose. Many people, both contenders, and audiences misinterpret the intent. Many people still believe that the competition is only about beauty and being slim. People still don't understand that beauty is subjective. It's unlike a math problem that has the exact answer - there can be multiple viewpoints on what makes a person beautiful. I have to say that beauty contests should be banned, any kind of it. Beauty should not be standardized. The contest doesn't emphasize the talents of the contenders; instead, they exposed their physical appearance and sex appeal. That's why they put minimum height and body type in the first place as the requirement. 

Today, real beauty is about being authentic and transcendent.All of these pageants are very damaging to women, and ‘no’, nothing has changed or improved beyond the fact that the event organizers, promoters and participants are now simply more ‘politically correct.’ We can SAY that it’s about poise, we can SAY it includes a few token questions for the contestants (to see how intelligent, poised, civic-minded, etc. they are), we can SAY it’s about musical/dance, etc. talent, but at the end of the day every single one of these women are of a certain height, below a certain weight, and all are what we’d consider very attractive. Bathing suit competitions? Ball gowns? Really? And yet they still try to tell us this is NOT about conforming to certain standards of beauty? The day I see a short, heavy, ‘unattractive’ woman winning such a pageant, that’s the day I’ll truly know it’s about all that ‘other stuff’ and NOT about looks.

Until such time, these pageants are nothing but substantial money-making schemes for the TV show advertisers, the sponsors, the hotels, and the countries that host the pageants also get a tourism boost. And less directly, such pageants, by perpetuating notions of beauty, help to keep the cosmetics, hair care product, and plastic surgery businesses as a whole, flourishing.

Why Young People Don't Vote

Indonesia is heading to the presidential election this April 2019. Half - 187.1 million of Indonesian voters are from the millennial generations, born roughly between 1982-2001 (Titi Anggraeni - Executive Director Perludem). In the 2014 election,  less than 30% of youngsters cast a ballot. The number of youth voters in 2019 is quite big and will contribute significantly to the victory of the Candidates — however, youngsters are not sufficiently engaged in politics. They remained apathy towards the political process because they assume that political dynamics are not attractive and doesn't seem to affect their everyday lives. The decline in the political involvement of younger generations and the decreasing levels of youth participation not only endanger the democratic representativeness of today but also jeopardize the democracy of tomorrow. In 2014's youth participation, there are several reasons why young people don't vote.

First, registration was a hurdle. In 2014, many youngsters still hadn't gotten E-KTP which was needed to vote. Voter-eligibility regulations were confusing, too. As an instance, even as the minimum vote casting age was 17, all and sundry who was married and had an identification card could vote. Ladies as younger as 16 could marry legally. With those confusing rules, the young voters didn't want to put in the effort to get them registered or get themselves the voter ID cards. Also, some made it precise that the electorate must be from the addresses they paid taxes from or where their vehicle was registered. This indicated college goers would need to journey back domestic or request an absentee ballot week in advance. This problem still exists until now. If the KPU take action, make the registration easier, the youth participation projected will increase in 2019.

Second, scandals involving numerous political parties. The number of corruption has been spiked over the years also caused apathy of young voters. Young people didn't have very high belief and faith in the legislative branch, especially when they see the leaders abusing powers and not doing their work correctly. 

Third, unaffected by changes. Most policies and issues that candidates had to offer didn't affect people much until later in life. Which potential turnout for older people expected to be high in most elections. However, due to the fact of this, candidates tackled worries of the older generations and positioning themselves as beneficial to older folks. This made the issues that have long-term consequences out of the picture. So, young voters didn't see their concerns being addressed and determined not to support either candidate. This reason kept younger voter turnout low in the elections. Parties saw youth issues like a low return on investment.

Take an example of the United States, a large chunk of the youth population was reluctant to use their power. That was one of many reasons why Donald Trump was elected as the 44th POTUS. It's clear that the youth regretted their past action. Youth voter turnout spiked during midterm elections, a significant increase from 21 % to 31 %. The Youth may feel that electing a president won't affect their lives as in now, but they will in four years, then they came in the realization that every vote matters. Every policy made by a president or senator will have the following effect. Adulthood brings many new challenges, like school, marriage, mortgage, health insurance, and being an entrepreneur, all of which could radically transform your view on political issues.  At the same time as you can't predict who or where you may be in four years, you may make sure that the senator/president elected into the house and the policies they put into effect will impact your life within the coming months and years. Why don't vote? Speak up, cast a ballot, and take part inside the election to guard your interests in your life. 

Internet-based Communication vs Direct Communication

On Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, social life belongs on the middle of the pyramid. It means that it's essential, and it's supported by the theory that human is a social creature, it influences our mental and physical health. Two most common forms of social interaction are face-to-face communication and internet-based communication. Which one is better?

In the pre-telephone era, we practiced direct contact communication. We would visit our friends or family to have our social life's going. Today's social life has been revolutionized. In this disruptive era, where everything connected to the internet, our social life's proceeding is evolving. The need to socialize become more comfortable, now we have this thing called social media. But is it better than face-to-face communication? 

Social media is easy, but it comes with consequences compared to direct contact of communication. It's true that in this era we can know our relative's news in an instant click. Our family who lives a hundred miles from us is one click away. A statistic that I've been gathered from Facebook statistics says that more than 700 billion minutes are spent on Facebook by its users. With those amount of time we overwhelmed ourselves with social life, it becomes too much. It's true about a quote that says social media is taking the far one closer, and making the closest one far. The communication that made with social media become less meaningful, and we tend to ignore what lies in front of us. When we're hanging out, let's be honest –  we busy with our mobile phones. On the other hand, face-to-face communication has benefits that social media can't obtain. We use our senses, when we communicate eye-to-eye, we use gestures, intonation, looks, smiles, touches as well as words.  It is all read by interlocutor and built the general impression, but there is no such possibility in the social media. 

In conclusion, I am not saying that people should avoid social media completely, but people need to be aware of the cons of it. People need to be mindful of how they are using social media as well as the others around them. In your opinion, which one is better? Social Media? or Direct communication. 

Preserving Unity in Diversity

Indonesia is home for 17,508 islands, over 300 native languages, and with a total population of nearly 300 million, This country has become one of the most diverse countries in the world. And with hundreds of ethnicity, you and I might be different, yet we have to preserve peacefulness among us, in other words, a unity in diversity.

Preserving unity in diversity is essential. Diversity is necessary to open our mind, enhance our perspective and capabilities. While a unity will results in the best possible outcome/solution as all these differences integrate at reaching the best answer. Diversity and culture are dependent matter one another. Culture is the total of human creations- intellectual, technical, artistic, physical, and moral. It guides social life, and the things generation must follow and to which they may eventually add. Language, religion, science, art, notions of right and wrong, and explanations of the meaning of life are all parts of culture, and Indonesia is famous for their richness of culture. From Sabang in Aceh to Merauke in Papua, these include the Batak in North Sumatra, the Dayak in Kalimantan, the Ambonese in the Moluccas, the Javanese, the Sundanese, the Balinese, the Acehnese, and the Minangkabau, each with a different language and culture. In this essay, I will explain a point to point on how to preserve the unity in diversity.

First, start with education. We must understand how diverse we are. In Indonesia, there are five recognized religions and hundreds of beliefs. Lately, issues on religion have been on the rise. The core obstacle of this matter is because of Indonesia's lack of education. It causes a shortage of understanding of literacy; thus we tend to believe in a hoax and fake news easily, those two things can divide our nation. Introducing Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in school curriculum can help on combatting fake news. MIL is a concept that has been used by UNESCO to stress the inter-relatedness of competencies regarding information broadly, and media, in particular. These cover human right literacy (especially the right of freedom of speech), news literacy (including literacy about journalistic standards and ethics), etc. 

Second, foster ourselves the sense of tolerance. We should learn to value and experience the abundance of Indonesia diversity found within other races, religions, and cultures. Appreciating it means trying to find the best in all people. Tolerance means that we don't need to accept other's people beliefs or behaviors, but we must respect every person's freedom of conscience. 

And lastly, if we, the people, can practice points as mentioned earlier, the government also can help us to preserve the unity in diversity by abolishing the blasphemy law. In my defense, God doesn't need human protection, and blasphemy law is often misused and abused.  Statistics collected by the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network show that aggressive Islamists have targeted at least 60 people since September 2016 with a battery including online threats, verbal harassment, and physical intimidation. Until the Indonesian government ends the abusive blasphemy law and guarantees that the law enforcement protects the rights of Indonesians rather than pander to the objections of those who deny those rights, a unity in diversity won't attain.

These three points to be expected to embody unity and diversity.

A Farewell Night

A Farewell Night

“Please hear me out of what I’m about to say. You know, being apart is unavoidable, we’ll be apart by hundreds of miles. But, we’d be wishing upon the same star, we would be looking at the same moon, you will think of me and I’ll think of you. Say yes, and I’ll feel closer to you.”

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“I’ll leave, remember?” He said.

“It has been a month, and I have to go”. He added.

“Is that so? Just go, I don’t care”. Hannah glared.

It had been a month since they became closer than ever. They met a month ago, in Ozark, Hannah met a gentleman named Shawn.

One night, on a farewell night, Shawn intended to say goodbye. Hannah knew that that time would come no matter what; she tried to be like her usual self;

But her inner self-was grieving.

“Nothing I can do. Who do I think I am? I’m nobody. Not his wife, not his girlfriend, or whatever labels you’d put me to highlight a relationship. I don’t have the power to stop him from going, his plan was to stay one month and that’s it”. Hannah said to herself, in silence.

“But, he’ll go. I don’t know when we’ll meet again.  A week? A month? A year? Or Never? No one knows.” Hannah shook her head.

In her room, alone, her mind couldn’t stop thinking about his departure.

“Ugh why is the clock ticking so loud? Can you please stop? Just for a minute? Don’t you tired? Ticking all day and all night?” This time, she blamed the clock.

“I don’t want to think about it, I don’t want to think about anything, I just don’t have the energy. He said that we’d meet again someday. Someday? Can you please explain what does that even mean? Someday means no priority. Someday means never comes. Did he basically say that we would never meet again? But, why would I care for someone who doesn’t give me certainty? Why would I care? But I care. I care so much.” Hannah lost her mind.

------------------------------------------One message received---------------------------------

“Can’t sleep. You awake?” texted Shawn.

Whoa. Should I reply fast? Or should I wait?

*typing*

“What do you think? Of course I can’t sleep. I’m losing my mind here, thinking of you. I don’t want you to go. I like you, like a lot. I’m getting crazy right here just by thinking you wouldn’t be here tomorrow”

But no,

She deleted that entire message.

Instead, she replied, “I’m awake.”

“Okay then, where are you? Can we meet?” Shawn asked.

Then, they both were meeting at their usual place, the lake near the observatory. That night, that cold summer night, July fifteenth, the sky full of stars and the moon was full and bright.

“I’ll leave first thing in the morning” Shawn started.

“You have said that, haven’t you?” Hannah replied.

Then Shawn looked at Hannah with his sharp blue eyes intensely. Their eyes met, the pulse quickens, and heartbeat got faster.

Then he smiled and Hannah froze.

“Your smile looks fake” Hannah said stupidly.

“Oh? Really? People thought the same, but I bet they just jealous, I have the most charming smile! Don’t you agree? Hahaha ” Shawn replied confidently.

“Hahaha..You are one of the braggarts ” Hannah laughed although she secretly agreed.

“Out of curiosity, why are you bringing me here? It’s three a.m.” Hannah asked.

“Just for that..” He pointed his finger to the stars.

“For a star” He added.

“Yes, tonight is so beautiful. Stars are shining so bright” Hannah replied.

“Of course, Hannah. It’s because you see them with me. I make everything better” joked Shawn.

Hannah didn’t reply. She was busy gazing the stars and busy with her own thought.

“Hey! I’m joking! Usually, you’ll smack my head and scream at me saying Oh! You are an arrogant piece of shit. Hahahahha” Shawn laughed.

Then, Hannah gathered her courage.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Her tongue was tied. She’d been composing her words in her brain. She didn’t want to feel sorry for not saying it out loud.

Then Shawn asked.

“Is there something you want to say?”

“He can read my mind, can’t he?!” Hannah mumbled.

“What? Just say it, if you don’t, I’ll never know” Shawn replied.

“OMG, he read my mind twice” Hannah mumbled.

“Don’t force me to say it out loud” said Hannah inner voice.

“We will meet again, Hannah. I promise you” Shawn said.

“Please hear me out of what I’m about to say. You know, being apart is unavoidable, we’ll be apart by hundreds of miles. But, we’d be wishing upon the same star, we would be looking at the same moon, you will think of me and I’ll think of you. Say yes, and I’ll feel closer to you.” He added.

“ Thanks, Hannah” He said

“What’s for?” Hannah replied

“Thank you for everything you have taught me. Thank you for accompanying me this far. Thank you for fulfilling my selfish request, and Thank you for making me realize my own feeling” He said.

“You’re welcome Shawn, and I also Thank you” Hannah replied.

“What’s for?” He asked

“For bringing me here tonight so we can have our goodbye, just the two of us” Hannah said

Then He laughed.

“You’re not being honest, Hannah” Shawn said.

“What? Oh, at least I’m not reading people’s mind” Hannah replied.

Shawn laughed again. This time, he laughed harder.

“Do you think I can your mind? Seriously? I’m just an ordinary man. I know that I’m charming but I don’t read people mind”

“Just laugh, Shawn! I’m sorry, I’m indeed an easy person to guess!” she replied.

Before Hannah finished her sentence, Shawn pulled her arm and kissed Hannah under the moonlight then he said.

“I’m sorry, Hannah. I lied to you. I’ll be back next month, and this time for good”

How to Write a Good Paragraph for ESL Students

Writing is the most challenging skill to excel for ESL student. When you understand basic grammar, there is no guarantee you can surpass in writing, let alone a good paragraph.  Here's how to write a good paragraph.

First, you need to read tons of articles. By reading, we exposed ourselves to a good paragraph.

Second, as we are being exposed to a good paragraph then we must understand the basic components of a good paragraph. We must know what are main idea, supporting sentence, wrap-up sentence.

Third, the easy way to begin our writing. We'll learn basic paragraph outline. Example:

Topic Sentence: _________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Supporting Detail: ________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________    

Facts, details, examples, and explanations: 

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Supporting Detail: ________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________    

Facts, details, examples, and explanations: 

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Supporting Detail: ________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Facts, details, examples, and explanations: 

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

Concluding Sentence: ____________________________________________________

Finally, we can start writing our good paragraph!