SECTION 1: LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT - Unit 3 : Media and Society

 Social Media: Its Influence and Control over People's Lives

• 
  The term social media has multiple explanations. Some people believe that social media makes them able to meet and communicate with people around the world. While some others think about that, social media is the channel that gives them the chance to send and receive much information. Others think that social media is about the way we get many updates from people who we follow and maybe someone thinks social media is a part of a new marketing strategy.
• Social media, today, seems like a big part of our life. When our friends didn’t reply to our text, we can greet them on Facebook. When we want to listen to music or see a music video from our favourite singer — go to YouTube. When we just wake up and open our eyes, we don’t have to walk outside to get the newspaper, just take the phone and scroll Twitter timeline then we’ll get the information. Blog and Forum are also types of social media because they allow us to share “what we think” about articles, pictures, videos and so on. 
• Social media which allows the users not only to share about their profession, major of study, works and company, addresses, political views and religion but also allow them to find a job and allow the company to find the employees. Everything looks and feels easier to do with social media.
• The writer has a question, “If everything looks and feels easier to do with social media, isn't something strange if society is extremely dependent on social media. How strong can social media influence and control people’s lives?” This question leads her to recall a case that happened about 5 years ago in Indonesia.
• In August 2008, there was a woman who has known by Indonesian people as Prita Mulyasari. Her case begun when she wrote about her disappointment with the services of a Hospital in Jakarta. She told and wrote everything about the hospital and the bad services that she got from the doctors, nurses and administration staff. Then, she sent a message to her friends on the mailing list. Actually, she just tried to remind her friends to be more selective in choosing the hospital and to be more careful in accepting many kinds of services. But, her message became a big problem after her friend shared it to a website (the people’s forum) with so many read and commented about the issue.
• In September 2008, the management of the hospital reported Prita Mulyasari for the bad news about the hospital that she has spread. The management of the hospital demanded her to pay a material loss of about Rp.161 million as a replacement for clarification in national newspapers and Rp.100 million for immaterial losses. She wasn’t only to pay for the hospital losses but she was also detained in May 2009. After 8 months she went through the inspection and verification process and was convicted by the court for violating the law about using the ICT (Information and Communication Technology). This case rapidly spread among Indonesian people. As common issues, there are always pros and cons. Although the Indonesian people weren’t justified what Prita has done against the hospital, but most of the people in Indonesia really cared about her life and Prita’s condition and tried to help her, at least to pay the amercement (fine).
• Many volunteers, social workers, activists, students and even artists came together to help her. They were collecting many coins from people on the street, office, and even an entertainment centre. Some singers also held a charity concert to help her. In December 2009, the campaign to help Prita was finished and they succeed by collecting the coins to help Prita raise about Rp. 825 Million. The money was extremely worth it for Prita, although she still had to go through the period of detainees (some held in custody). However, the money was very helpful for her not only to pay the amercement but also for her life, considering she has two kids.
• The writer asserts that social media has the strength to influence and control people’s lives. Prita’s case clearly explains to us that social media were able to make people’s life get worse or get better. But, we don’t need to stay away or being anti-social media. People are stronger than social media because we can easily think before we act and think before we speak. There is nothing to be worried about if we are wise when we share something on social media.

Sources:

http://hukum.kompasiana.com/2009/06/03/kronologi-kasus-prita-mulyasari-13940.html

http://www.hukumonline.com/berita/baca/lt4b3ac59e39184/pn-tangerang-vonis-bebas-prita-buka-perdamaian-dengan-rs-omni

http://outthinkgroup.com/tips/the-6-types-of-social-media

http://news.okezone.com/read/2009/12/21/338/286733/redirect

A: Find the words from the text that have the following meanings.

1. blog
2. profession
3. disappointment
4. detained
5. convicted
6. violating
7. pros and cons
8. amercement

B: Study the underlined phrases in the following sentences.

Use the following prepositional verbs in sentences.

What is a prepositional verb?

A prepositional verb is a verb that is followed by a preposition. The meaning of these two words together is usually very similar to the original meaning of the verb. For example,

To worry

To worry about (someone or something)

Comparing a prepositional verb to a phrasal verb

While the meaning of a phrasal verb is often different from the original meaning of the main verb, the meaning of a prepositional verb is usually the same as the main verb. Phrasal verbs also use adverbs as well as prepositions, whereas prepositional verbs do not.

Phrasal verbs are also often separated by nouns and pronouns. For example,

Put your jacket on.

Put it on.

Prepositional verbs cannot be separated. The two words must remain together.

What are some common prepositional verbs?

There are some prepositional verbs that we use very often, so it’s useful to try to remember them. Here they are with their meanings and an example:

PREPOSITIONAL VERB	EXAMPLE
agree with	“I agree with you 100%.”
approve of	“My parents didn’t approve of me leaving university.”
believe in	“He’s 11 years old but he still believes in the tooth fairy.”
care for	“She’s a nurse. She cares for the elderly.”
consist of	“What does your course consist of?”
decide on	“We need to decide on the budget for next year.”
depend on	“I’m not sure if we’ll go out. It depends on the weather.”
deal with	“Our manager has several problems to deal with.”
get on	“Get on! The train is about to leave!”
get off	“We arrived at the museum and got off the bus.”
get in	“She got in the cab and it drove off.”
get out of	“Yajan got out of his car and opened the gate.”
insist on	“They insist on meeting us tonight.”
laugh at	“Are you laughing at me?”
listen to	“I love listening to music.”
look after	“My Mum looks after our kids after school.”
look at	“Look at this painting. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
look for	“Shreebha is looking for a job.”
pay for	“Prawesh paid for the meal and left a tip.”
specialize in	“Shambhavi is specializing in international law.”
think about	“It’s a great offer. Think about it and let me know your decision.”
wait for	“Wait for me! I’m coming.”
work for	“Who do you work for?”

Now, use the following prepositional verbs in sentences.                                                                    

                                                           

PREPOSITIONAL VERB	EXAMPLE
apologise to	The manager apologised to his workers for his misbehaviour.
adapt to	We are supposed to adapt to the new system of the company.
devote to	Prakriti seems to have devoted herself to social services.
refer to	Her mother never referred to him again.
reply to	Please reply to this email at earliest.
admire for	I admire you for the courage you have shown.
apply for	I am applying for promotion.
pray for	The world is praying for peace and prosperity.
scold for	He scolded me for the mistakes I committed.
vote for	They voted for the resolution.
aim at	The new budget aims at providing extra support for the unemployed.
arrive at	We all argued about it for hours and eventually arrived at a decision.
glance at	She glanced at the room to see who was there.
look at	She is looking at its beauty.
bring up	He was brought up in harmony.
agree on	All parties agreed on plans to expand the business.
comment on	She refused to comment on their decision.
concentrate on	The driver was concentrating on the road.
rely on	We always rely on experts.
count on	You can never count on him to get the job done, he is a very lazy man.
grow up	I was grown up in Manigram.
escape from	Don’t try escaping from problems as this can never be the solution.
recover from	It took him time to recover from the loss.
resign from	He was asked to resign from the job.
suffer from	Many suffer from behavioural and emotional problems.
separate from	My frond and I separated from the tour group to look at a different exhibit in our town.
worry about	We always worry about the result.
argue about	They started arguing about politics.
boast about	Shreebha did not feel the need to boast about her success.
dream about	I am always dreaming about achieving more success in my career.
acquaint with	We should acquaint ourself with technology.
agree with	Do you agree with capital punishment?
charge with	The company’s directors were arrested and charged with tax evasion.
trust with	They trusted their son with the family car.
confuse with	Don’t get confused with technology and terminology.
believe in	I don’t believe in censorship of the arts.
involve in	They were involved in terrorism.
succeed in	We succeeded in convincing the board of directors to extend our grant for another 12 months.
specialise in	Our company is specialised in building network strategies.
absorb in	He was absorbed in the book. He is absorbed in scientific work. He is absorbed in the study of Sanskrit.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Comprehension

A: Fill in the gaps with appropriate words/phrases from the text.

1. marketing
2. finding a job and the employees required 
3. immaterial losses
4. charity concert
5. 825 million

Grammar (p. 26-28)

B. Complete the following sentences using the correct prepositions of direction: to, toward, onto, or into.

1. Prem drove Milan to the airport.
2. The plane landed onto the runway.
3. The kids climbed onto the monkey bars.
4. Manish and Richa moved the table into the dining room.
5. Ganesh almost fell into the river.
6. Lalit and Sarita took the bus that was heading toward the university.

C. Complete the sentences with the correct preposition from the brackets.

1. through
2. round
3. out of
4. away from
5. down
6. onto
7. into
8. towards
9. up