The design of addiction: Social media and Tobacco Social media companies design their platforms to be as addictive as possible, knowing this harms users’ mental health. How is this different from — or similar to — a tobacco company that knew its products caused cancer? Social media and tobacco are different industries. Even though tobacco…
Anonymity and Relational Intimacy / 匿名性と親密性 Why might individuals exhibit a greater propensity for disclosing intimate or vulnerable information to strangers in online environments than to known individuals in offline contexts, and what does this suggest about the interplay between anonymity, trust, and relational intimacy? 人はなぜ、オフラインの知り合いよりも、オンライン環境の見知らぬ人に対して親密な情報や脆弱な情報を開示する傾向が強いのだろうか。そして、このことは匿名性、信頼、そして親密な関係の相互作用について何を物語っているのだろうか。 English Version The internet has significantly influenced the shape…
Epistolary to Digital Messaging How has the transition from epistolary correspondence to instantaneous digital messaging reshaped not only temporal expectations of communication, but also the cognitive depth, rhetorical structure, and reflective quality of interpersonal discourse? Epistolary has a long history dating back 5000 years. Unfortunately, it has become less common in the late 20th century…
Cloning could theoretically let same-sex couples or single people have genetically related children without a partner. How might this shift the cultural and political debates around family, parenthood, and reproductive rights? This question is a controversial, complex ethical territory. In a status quo, same-sex couples or single people have limited choices should they harbor a…
Cultural literacy and Digital literacy Should cultural literacy be valued on par with digital literacy in education systems, or is it losing relevance in a data-driven world? Cultural literacy is the ability to comprehend and engage with one’s culture, such as languages, arts, traditions, histories, and practices. It’s what makes our civilizations. Even in this…
Personal freedom and Collective responsibility Some choices that seem purely personal — like what to eat, what to drive, or how many children to have — actually have large effects on the environment and society. Where should the line be between personal freedom and collective responsibility? Each country holds a diverse interpretation of the line…
Immigrants The migration crisis has often become a heated topic in recent political policy. The news frequently reports the migration crisis as a headline, which is usually associated with the increasing crime rate, the spread of illegal drugs, or conflict with locals. I believe migration is a natural adaptation to change that is rooted in…
Has social media democratized truth by giving everyone a voice, or distorted it by blurring the line between fact and opinion? If I were asked the same question a decade ago, I would have answered that social media brought us voices to democratize truth. I still agree with it to some degree, notwithstanding that my…
