"GAHMEN TOO SMART FOR ME" - WHY ARE SMART NATION POLICIES NOT ATTRACTIVE TO LOCAL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS?

Abstract

This thesis examines the reasons why a gap exists between the way Smart Nation policies have been articulated and promoted by the government and Singapore citizens? lukewarm responses towards it. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 45 local students, I contend that they are not attracted to Smart Nation policies because the formulation and implementation process is top-down and does not reflect their actual needs. Consequently, students saw themselves as passive recipients of technologies they neither wanted nor asked for. Furthermore, the students believed that the government has not listened and responded to their concerns about growing cybersecurity threats in Singapore. Conflated, these factors made citizens unable to relate to the policy rationales espoused by the government ? resulting in the disconnect between how Smart Nation is communicated and perceived by citizens. This study is the first of its kind to understand why Smart Nation policies remain unappealing to Singaporean youths.