You live in a connected world. A world that as little as 30 years ago looked and felt entirely different. It is no longer a figure of speech that you have the world at your fingertips. We literally do, and all due to a thing called globalisation.
Globalisation is the increasing phenomenon of different parts, places and people of the world becoming connected through trade, communication, travel etc. Most of which is made possible through the rapid advancements in technology which the world has witnessed over only the last little part of history. At this point in time, civilisation is more connected and more intertwined then ever before and it is projected to continue to become more and more so in the future. So if this movement of global connectedness is as inevitable as it seems, then it begs the question of whether or not globalisation is actually a good thing.
If you have watched, listened or read any news lately then you may have heard about the American Debt Crisis that has a lot of people scared. Basically what this is, is that America is so in debt as a country that they may be forced into a kind of bankruptcy which is not a place that they want to be. 20-30 years ago something like this would have been sucky for America and America alone. Yet because of this increasing connectedness and intertwining of international markets and finances, globalisation, that not only does Americas’ problems affect America, but they also throw the entire worlds’ economy into chaos, a chaos that if it occurs, will over shadow the global financial crisis. The problem is that with connectedness, comes reliance and systemic risk. That is the risk of a kind of domino effect whereby one problem systematically effects somewhere else until it is felt world wide.
While systemic risk is a real and probable problem associated with increased globalisation, that doesn't mean that it is all bad. In fact I would say that the positives far out weigh the negatives. For example, go have a look at your Facebook friend list and see how many of your friends are from places that are too far away or practical to visit regularly. I myself found that on average my Facebook friends are over 1000 Km away and are from 12 different countries, find out for yourself here. So it can be seen that without Facebook, and more specifically the Internet as a whole, such global community would not be possible. The Internet is the most powerful creator and product of globalisation. It’s made it easy to connect distant places, but at the same time it’s fueled by the need for greater things to be accessible to more people, at a faster speed and more often.
This greater accessibility has lead to the rise of the individual and their power. For the first time in history, the words of a 'nobody' can literally be accessed, seen and read by people all over the globe. And that’s what Hello Noise is all about, we’re about giving other young people an actual voice. By writing your own blog posts and submitting them to be featured on the site you’re taking up the opportunity to share your passions in a way that can actually affect people.
So with such power to impact on the world as an individual, the question is again asked. Is this a good thing? And as with the original question, it all comes down to how you, the individual chooses to exercise this power, what message you want to share and how you go about sharing it.
