1. THEME :
REVISION
TOPIC :
MEC MID YEAR
2009 Q2
SKILLS :
WRITING

2. Question
Information and communications
technology (ICT) is the cause of
today’s many social ills. What is
your opinion? Support your
answer with examples. You
should write at least 350 words.
[60 marks]

3. Definition
• digital products, communication
device/ application/ service
ICT • radio, TV, mobile phone, satellite
system, Internet, computer, software
• causing troubles or suffering to the
society and relations between
social ills people
• truancy, violence, erosion of culture,
drug abuse, cyber-relationship

4. OUTLINE
agree : ICT is the cause of today’s many social ills
addiction obsession depression
a condition of
the state of being a persistent general emotional
enslaved to a habit preoccupation, dejection and
or practice idea, or feeling withdrawal;
great sadness
SNS, online gambling, entertainment, SNS, anonymity,
online games fashion, sports bullying, harassment

5. Sample answer MUET Trial 1/2013
ICT is the cause of today’s many social ills. I agree. ICT is the
cause of today’s many social ills because it causes addictions, obsessions
and depressions.
First, ICT causes addictions. Internet, satellite TV and online
activities are all accessible to anyone with no age, gender, religious or
cultural restriction 24 hours a day. Having unlimited access to the
Internet turns many people to addicts. Before ICT, there is no online
game, online gambling and pornographic addiction. For example, ICT
causes online game addiction which have even caused deaths. In China
and South Korea, there are cases of young parents neglected their
newborn baby while busy creating new scores online for days. They did
not feed their child because to them, playing online games is more
important . Besides, with ICT, gambling is done around the clock. So,
online gambling makes gambling accessible even to those who are far
away from gambling venues thus creating more gambling addicts. Other
than that, ICT causes pornographic addiction. With endless access to all
sorts of pornographic materials, people turn into addicts in no time.
Before ICT, pornographic materials are not that easily available and now,
by only ticking a certain box to indicate your age, even young kids could
access these types of unsuitable content. It is obvious that ICT gives
way to addiction with its unrestricted accessibility and this leads
to social ills.

6. Second, ICT causes obsessions. ICT makes people obsessed with
celebrities of many kinds, entertainers, sportsmen and public figures. Before ICT,
we read about celebrities on newspapers or magazines but ICT provides more
sources. Worse, ICT permits and even encourages stalking. Social networking
sites like Twitter, glorifies stalking because a user gets to ‘follow’ anyone they
want . It used to be that a stalker needs to physically follow a celebrity but now
one can stalk anybody, not just celebrity. Before ICT, stalking is not announced
and not publicly done. Besides, a trend used to take some time before reaching
our shore but with ICT it’s just a matter of seconds. Any trend is a worldwide
trend with ICT. Therefore, more people become fashion victims because they are
obsessed with anything new. For example, one who is obsessed with fashion
might emulate a fashion trend of an idol but it might not be in accordance with
our cultural values or even weather. In addition, with ICT, obsession gets more
outlets. Fan forums and groups are created to encourage obsession where all
obsessed fans gather. For example, in the 60s, teens all over the world were
obsessed with The Beatles but none of them could beat the obsession teens
nowadays have on Justin Bieber. The ‘Beliebers’ wear, eat, drink and sleep Bieber.
This causes social ills because in the long run, the fanatics might resort to
something illegal such as stealing and cheating to get what they want. They
might also develop a psychological disorder like ‘Celebrity Worship Syndrome’.
They might neglect their responsibility. From this, it is clear that ICT
provides for obsessive behaviour and this leads to social ills.

7. Third, ICT causes depressions. ICT makes people depressed because
they feel inferior. When other people flaunt their amazing life on SNS, some will
feel lacking thus feeling sad and self-pity. They will try to overcome their
depression by turning to recreational drugs or even vandalism to forget their
inferiority. With ICT, one knows too much about others and jealousy could be the
beginning of depression. Some people are depressed because they do not feel
belonged. They might suffer from low self esteem because nobody likes their
Facebook updates or nobody comments on the uploaded pictures. Before ICT, one
might feel that sometime, but with ICT, the evidence is for others to see too and
this causes greater depression. Other than that, ICT makes people depressed
because with ICT, bullying has greater impacts. School bullies continue to bully
even after school hours. Cyber bullying happens even amongst office workers.
Bullying is not only physical but mostly emotional and virtual. Slanders are spread
much faster and reach more people thus creating more harmful effects. The
victims suffer from great depression because they are alienated not only in the
real world but online. Some victims resort to self-destructive behaviour such as
inflicting pain on themselves. Some turn anorexic and bulimic. Some develop
trauma. The worst case scenario is the many cases of suicides due to cyber
bullying. ICT facilitates bullying because harsh remarks are done anonymously,
with no time limit. It is evident that ICT causes depressions and this leads
to social ills.

8. As a conclusion, ICT is the cause of today’s many social ills. ICT causes
addictions, obsessions and depressions and these negativity eventually will lead
to social ills. Undeniably, ICT has its positive impacts but we have to be careful
of its detrimental negative impacts. We should take preventive measures so that
the negative effects will not outweigh the positive effects. Social ills are the
public’s concern and we should do our part to curb the problems.
Task
1. Identify the opening statement,
stand, thesis statement, topic
sentences, elaborations, examples,
micro-conclusion and conclusion.
2. Look up for meaning of new words
you have encountered.

9. -END-
By :
Norlini Abdullah & Nur Azlin Zainalaludin
Kolej Islam Sultan Alam Shah
Klang, Selangor Darul Ehsan.