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Has social media made us more lonely?

ST20250410_202561200104 Kua Chee Siong/ pixgeneric/
Generic pix of a commuters using their mobile phones/ handphones while travelling on an MRT train, on April 10, 2025.
Trump’s reciprocal tariffs kick in: Pricier phones, laptops in US and stymied global business flows. Smartphones are the largest import from China, with laptops coming in second. If the phones were to be made in the US, they could cost more than three times as much. As the Trump tariffs kick in, makers of computers, consumer electronics and other tech products face the prospect of "demand destruction" curbing sales. Demand destruction is the hot phrase now among Wall Street analysts covering Apple (AAPL), Nvidia (NVDA) and other tech hardware stocks. Demand destruction is the second punch of a double whammy after tariffs increased the cost of selling imported products in the U.S. Manufacturers are likely to pass along those costs to enterprise customers and consumers at higher prices.

This week, we look at social media’s effects on how we communicate.

ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

This is a special Straits Times resource for pre-university students as part of The Straits Times-Ministry of Education News Outreach Programme.

The team behind the ST-MOE News Outreach Programme has compiled a series of news resources for you. This week, we look at social media’s effects on how we communicate.

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ST Pre-U Primer

GP Resources

Social media

Gen Z