(International Studies, 1)
Many people these days are overly consumed with the “every day” tasks and routines. This can be due to our ever more globalizing society; a society where information is transferred anywhere in no time and a society where people can buy the same item in different parts of the world. This kind of global society offers people with a lot of advantages as well as disadvantages. Some advantages are faster ways of communication, sharing of cultures, and more comfortable lives. Because of these advantages, now people can talk to one another across thousands of miles away. People can also learn to appreciate different kinds of culture and the life styles of other ethnicities allowing people to acquire open-mindedness to differences. Furthermore, now people enjoy very convenient lives, where they can purchase already prepared meals, shop on their own phones, and travel to far places in short amount of time and many more.  But does this kind of globalized society really affect people in only positive ways as the above list mentions? As there are good and bad sides to almost everything in this world, likewise it is the same for this globalized society. One major negative effect to note is that the current society places people in global competitions due to the interconnectedness between countries. For example, businesses have to compete with not only firms in domestic markets but also in international markets due to the increasing trade. Such interconnectedness demands people to work at internationalized workforces- sending emails, making phone calls to people in different time zones. Since the workforces are moving into businesses with foreign companies, language skills, especially English has become one of the important criteria to be hired. Due to this kind of current situation, Korea has been developing the fever of everyone expected to acquire the standard “English skills” and people strive to be the best in multiple areas in order to have a place in this advancing society. Looking at this society from a domestic level, the current situation is due to the economic interdependence between countries as mentioned earlier about the active trade within the world. Same occurrences can also be observed at an individual level. College students such as Ewha students also invest a lot of time and effort to go up the ladder of success. Generally, college students find part time jobs to earn allowance, join school clubs and activities to learn as much as they can to make their resumes more qualifying for desired careers. Students constantly run towards one goal for four years of their college lives, focusing on living out each day towards that goal to be successful in the competition.
Likewise, this is the story of most of the Ewha students who live in the current society. The time period which they live in makes them constantly think, work, and to be occupied. Many times, for students, the work load from school overwhelms them with endless things to do such as exam preparation, team projects, and individual assignments. On top of these, there are relationships to maintain and duties to fulfill not including the academics. When too much is demanded, students will feel burdened and at one point, the "everyday" routine and life may place people in situations where they would want to run away from everything. But fleeing would not alleviate the burden of the situation so students forcefully choose to keep going. However, in the midst of everything, it is important for everyone to take a moment to step back and examine themselves.
Although this society makes many people overly consumed with “everyday” life tasks and routines, it is important that people are not pushed around by the competition, of an advancing and globalizing society. People should not let the patterns of the society overrun them. Ewha students should act wisely by working when necessary but also provide themselves some time to breathe and relax apart from the work and the growing competition of the current society.
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