Would You Like to Hear A Little Singapore Story?

The 3 Singaporean Little Pigs

“By the hair on my chinny chin chin, I will not let you in!” said the little pig. Not only did the little pig close his doors to the Big Bad Wolf but also to everyone else around him, even people he saw every day. Never once did he say hi to the other animals around him, though he occasionally stopped to help the Old Tortoise cross the street. But what this little pig, like the other little pigs, needed to realise was that not every stranger was going to huff and puff and blow his house down! The pig, like all of us, should try to connect with the familiar strangers and other Singaporeans around him. If only we open up and make the effort, everyone around us could possibly be a friend.

Let’s use "anti-socialism" to make youths more "social"!

Based on a study conducted by Singapore Polytechnic, youth in Singapore used an average of 5.5 hours of social media each day in 2012, and countless articles and forum letters have been written on how this is making them more anti-social. Instead of trying to get teens off social media, we are going to harvest their interest in social media to get them to be more social; social media does have the word "social" in it after all. That’s right, Teens Next Door is going to reach out to the youth using social media, and also encourage them to use social media to connect with the familiar strangers around them! This is what we are all about!

Familiar Strangers. Future Friends

So, let’s all take the first simple step to connect with the familiar strangers around us; they are just friendships waiting to bloom! There are many people we see very often, sometimes every day, but have never talked to; these are the people we are going to target, those around us that we have unfortunately neglected in the past. The small actions, like saying hello, are what make us more approachable as individuals and a society, bringing us one step closer to removing our tag of being the least positive country in the world. These small actions are also the first step in connecting with these familiar strangers in our lives, for every individual has a story to share and, with that, something that they can impart to us, the potential to change our lives. The small actions can start a chain reaction, especially with social media. So take the first step, connect with the familiar strangers in your lives, and share it to inspire others too! Our project will only be as successful as the efforts of all of you, so let’s all work together as a community of friends!

The 3 Singaporean Little Pigs (again)

One day, the little pig was scrolling through his newsfeed when he chanced upon www.facebook.com/teensnextdoor, and realised he, too, had some familiar strangers in his life! The next day, as he walked out of his straw house, he saw the second little pig in the wooden house next to his. For the first time, he said hello! The two little pigs had a nice little chat, and at the end of their conversation, they took a selfie and shared it with @teens_nextdoor on Twitter and Instagram. The third little pig saw this, and realized that beyond making the difficult first step, this idea was a whole lot of fun! So he decided to comment on the first little pig’s picture, and get to know them better through social media. Soon, they became a close-knit family of little pigs, and were even featured on the Teens Next Door blog! Remember, as William Butler Yeats said, “There are no strangers here, only friends you have not yet met.”