XSMatter

I’m heading for the Nexus conference in a few days time. And somehow it’s only now that I start wondering whether Nexus will change anything.

We’ve been talking about Web 2.0 for a superbly long time now. With every E27 Conference and every local web 2.0 article that I read, the higher my expectation becomes of what to expect of myself and of other locals who are hyped up by this Internet-wide transformation.

And repeatedly, I become more and more disappointed – because nothing is happening. Nothing really huge at least.

Am I expecting too much? After convincing myself that I’m not having too high an expectation I decide to try and find a single excuse as to why we’re underachieving…

“We are a feel good nation. I am no exception.”

Too many times, we’re focused on feeling good about ourselves. We were brought up to become a proud people. The mindset that good grades equate to some form of intellectual superiority is perpetuated from the very day we step into Primary 1. Some parents even drill that when the kid is in Kindergarten.

Once we’ve stepped into the likes of Secondary school, a different kind of emphasis begins to reveal itself. Status. You can be smart but you’re nothing if you’re not rich or holding some powerful position in school. Some go to the extent of feeling good because they’re in the most elite of schools. It’s simply cool to be in the cool club.

*suddenly I am reminded of The Arena where RI battled United World College on the motion of “The Education System Breeds Elitism” or something along that line…did anyone watch it? I missed it. Dang*

Anyway, once past secondary school is really when we start to become the sheep instead of the shepherds. Faced with a grueling decision of either going to JC(where you’d be expected to go to University) or a Polytechnic. Honestly, when I was in Secondary 4…I knew shit about where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do. I just wanted to go to the same school as some crush I had.

At this juncture of our lives, we figure – be safe, choose the option that makes us feel good. Walk with the herd. And so, for most of the people, off to JC they go because “people say” that poly is when you get more than 20 points for you O Levels. (Of course there are many who can’t go because they didn’t make the cut…but if they did, they’d probably go to JC too)

You might say that it’s really natural for us to make choices so that we’ll feel good because “who’d choose an option that makes you miserable?” right? Well, that’s the thing. You’ve seen people who make choices to go do volunteer work in 3^rd World countries or do start a venture and live on sandwiches so as to bootstrap. Do they feel good? Probably, they do.

But it’s important to ask ourselves, what are they feeling good about?

Are they feeling good because they made a choice that they believed in? Or are they feeling good because they ‘fit in’?

The latter can’t be true because obviously, that’s the path less traveled.

And when it comes to all this web 2.0 talk…I start to ask myself about us.

Are we just really happy talking about web 2.0 ?

Why is it that we keep talking and talking but not really producing anything?

Are we, perhaps, just really contented that we’re talking about a really cool topic?

I don’t have an answer I guess…But when I go to Nexus and see the familiar faces once again, I’ll perhaps remain silent because I’m wondering about who will actually take the next step forward instead of just talking about the cool successful entrepreneurs that they’ve talked to…

Read or add comments about this item.

No. 1 :

Everyone is so hype about Web 2.0 and even the govt is going Web 3.0. Most likely it will be a integration from 1.0 to 1.5 to 2.0 slowly but steadily. Sometimes these people just hype it up so much to make the event more head turning.

Submitted by Guest User • 2007-03-22 10:21:21

No. 2 :

hmmm...well the hype is one thing...but i'm just thinking that in many areas, we keep talking about the next step but we don't really do it until someone from another country takes the first step...Can't we be the 'cool'-setters?

*of course, i'm guilty of not doing enough too*

Submitted by Ridz • 2007-03-22 12:04:23

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