The city has suffered due to the typhoons that have battered Hong Kong in recent months. Scaffolding was torn from buildings, creating dangerous situations for construction workers. Being a construction worker is never easy. There are measures that have to be taken to ensure workers’ safety. As a tech-savvy person, I wonder if robots, AI or other technology could be applied to industrial construction to reduce injuries.
In a digital society, simple and heavy work could be replaced by robots to reduce labour requirements and avoid accidents. For instance, stock storage and transport are fully automated nowadays. Robots of different types are used to receive, process, store and send packages. Human labour is no longer needed for this kind of heavy work.
I believe robots could do heavy lifting and repetitive tasks to improve safety. AI could also be adopted. By learning the reasons for industrial accidents in the past, AI could analyse the data to identify and predict potential hazards or recommend safety improvements.
However, adapting technologies to construction takes work. In the long run, the most important thing is for workers to follow safety guidelines and stay vigilant.
Technology can be used in industrial construction to reduce injuries. Photo: Shutterstock
MBTI is a double-edged sword
Daisy Cheung, Tsuen Wan Public Ho Chuen Yiu, Memorial College
Recently, I became addicted to doing the MBTI test. It is a questionnaire classifying people into 16 personality types. The amazing thing is that the result can accurately describe your personality. It can help people have more understanding of themselves. However, it also has a dark side.
The trending of MBTI leads to comparisons between different types of people. They start to attach labels to each other based on their MBTI result. This often happens when people do not fully understand the system, which leads to stereotypes of others. Some companies even determine candidates’ MBTI results at job interviews.
Knowing one’s MBTI can benefit people who want to know others from a quick test instead of a long chat. It has become a tool to learn about other people instantly, but it has been abused.
The MBTI was meant to provide ideas for self-discovery. Yet, over-relying on it can cause prejudiced behaviour. It totally depends on how we put it into practice.
Expert discusses why we love the MBTI personality test and whether it’s useful
Don’t push yourself too hard
Ashley Ho Ying-tung, Po Leung Kuk Tang Yuk Tien College
As a young person, I fully feel the pressure that our age group has to face. There are many different kinds of pressure on us nowadays. For example, there is anxiety about academic performance. I believe every student asks themselves: “Can I pass this test?” and “Am I familiar enough with this subject?”
At home, some students are affected by verbal or domestic violence, which not only puts pressure on them in their studies, but also makes it impossible for them to rest at home.
Moreover, I believe everyone feels social pressures; questions such as “Do my friends really like me?” These fears only add to the stress of the student.
Parents should back up their children, offer support, and not put too much pressure on them. Instead, they should spend more time with them. In terms of academics, students should not push themselves too hard, and parents should not set impossible goals. Instead, they should encourage their children to do their best. Socially, we shouldn’t force ourselves to stay in harmful friendships, and we should not spend time with people who are not sincere with us.
Teenagers are under a lot of pressure to succeed. Photo: Shutterstock
Change of pace is too sudden
Edwin Chiu Chun-yin, Christian Alliance S C Chan Memorial School
Recently, a survey found that Hongkongers’ happiness is at the lowest level in a decade. A concern group cites “post-trauma” from Covid-19. This news is not surprising – the pandemic took a heavy toll on everyone’s mental health – but it is still sad, and deserves our attention.
I believe that most of this “post-trauma” is from the sudden change of pace. Life under the pandemic was more lenient. Covid made working and studying from home much more common, leading to more flexible working hours and a less stressful environment. The shift back to the previous fast-paced lifestyle has no doubt made citizens feel overwhelmed.
For students, online learning reduced teaching hours and gave them easier access to the internet, but also made it much harder to maintain friendships due to the lack of face-to-face communication. Any attempts to slowly ease students back into normal school life were interrupted by waves of the pandemic, leading to the last school year feeling extremely rushed and stressful.
I believe that returning to our normal lives at a slower pace – for example, with more flexible working schedules – would greatly improve our mental health.
