China's AI Love Crisis

 

For issues on technology and loneliness....

The thrill lasts seconds The trash lasts forever

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Man charged under POFMA over alleged false statements in TikTok videos

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For communicating a false statement of fact, an offender can be fined up to $50,000, jailed for up to five years, or both.

Noise-monitoring ‘traffic light’ at Clementi community hall tackles residents’ concerns

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An ageing society tests more than our healthcare system

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Video of man stepping on Quran likely by person behind similar videos who was convicted in July 2025

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the police on March 7 issued disabling directions (DDs) under the Online Criminal Harms Act 2023 to Meta over social media posts showing a video of a man stepping on the Quran.

acts like these only “sow discord and erode the trust that we have worked hard to build in our multiracial and multi-religious society

In the video, a man wearing black socks can be seen riffling through the pages of a Quran with his feet, and stepping on it. The book is placed on the back seat of a public bus.

Why it’s time to end the grim march of the touchscreen

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Kiosks never forget to upsell with sides, meal deals and targeted promotions

customers often prefer the ease and speed of touchscreens. Whizzing through people-free passport checks after a long flight is a joy. I watch in awe at stores such as Uniqlo, where you drop a T-shirt into a tray that somehow instantly knows exactly what you’re buying and what it costs.

Seven years ago, the Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo introduced a slower so-called chat checkout to let customers take their time and talk with cashiers. It proved so popular the company decided to expand it to around 200 stores, especially in places where loneliness was a big problem.

About one in six people worldwide suffers social isolation and loneliness, which cause health problems similar to what you get from smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day

software engineers were starting to report a “huge morale problem”, not because they feared being replaced by AI, but because they were increasingly lonely. Instead of asking colleagues for help, they were asking AI, and felt ever more disconnected as a result.

Qn: To what extent is technology an effective solution for human loneliness? (RVHS Prelim 2025)

askST: What is total fertility rate? What does Singapore’s record low rate mean?

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the falling number of births and rapidly ageing population have wide-ranging implications, from weakening family support networks to slowing economic growth. He also stressed the need to have a “carefully managed immigration flow to augment our low birth rate

If the TFR remains at 0.87, this would translate to just 44 children and 19 grandchildren for every 100 residents today....Over time, it will be practically impossible to reverse the trend because we will have fewer and fewer women who can bear children

This means there will be fewer people of working age supporting each senior in the population, and a smaller proportion of the population paying taxes.

Izaac Quek and Koen Pang remind us of a simple truth: Fair play is a beautiful thing

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local examples on sportsmanship......

‘Cultivating’ scammers: Trading card community says some mystery packs promote cheating, gambling

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Hobbyists said Oripas should be banned due to the gambling and scam risks they pose.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said trading card packs will be regulated  to manage gambling risks involving blind boxes
prices have tripled in the last five years, blurring the line between collector and “investor”......It’s become difficult to disassociate the hobby from money and taking the fun out of it

while trading card communities can be good for the social development of the young, the gambling element of trading card packs must be managed. “They are a form of gambling. You chase that dopamine high of getting a special card, developing compulsive behaviour,

For issues on collecting items and hobbies....

Singapore to raise retirement age to 64 and re-employment age to 69 on July 1: Tan See Leng

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This means that Singapore is on track to raise the retirement age to 65 and the re-employment age to 70 by 2030

They shape social norms around ageing and work, giving seniors confidence to stay on, and giving employers the clarity to plan for and retain experienced workers

the Senior Employment Credit scheme allows the Government to provide wage offsets to help employers adjust to the higher retirement and re-employment ages