Monday, May 25, 2026
Sunday, May 24, 2026
A Wealthy Society - Time Poverty
For subscribers only
Translated by ChatGPT
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/forum/views/story20260523-9093745?utm_source=android-share&utm_medium=app
2026-05-23
Lianhe Zaobao 联合早报
Author: Guo Yingxuan 郭颖轩
The author is a senior multimedia editor at Lianhe Zaobao
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• Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah, who leads the task force on reshaping attitudes towards marriage and parenthood, shared at the annual conference of the Singapore Population Association that one major reason many young people are unwilling to marry and have children is that they feel they “do not have enough time.”
• Traditional reasons people rush to travel include: parents are getting old, children’s school holidays have arrived, and life and work pressures are too overwhelming. Every year, travel fairs attract large crowds eager to book travel packages.
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Less than 800 metres from the summit, on a steep downhill trail beneath rock crevices mixed with stones of all sizes, I suddenly stumbled, lost my footing, and lurched downhill out of balance. Just as I was about to crash into a pile of rocks, the guide appeared from nowhere and caught me...
This less-than-five-second “life-and-death” experience happened many years ago during my descent from Indonesia’s Mount Rinjani. Even though I had read extensively about the active volcano and made the necessary preparations before the trip, the trail was far more dangerous than I had imagined. I never thought a single stumble could nearly cost me my life.
Earlier this month, another Indonesian active volcano — Mount Dukono — erupted, resulting in the deaths of three climbers, two of whom were Singaporeans. Reports two days ago stated that the Indonesian guide leading the nine-member Singaporean climbing group had been named a suspect for causing death through negligence.
I do not believe the guide and the climbing team were completely unaware of recent reports about Mount Dukono’s volcanic activity. Perhaps, like me back then, they misjudged how danger might strike; perhaps, like many of us when travelling, they simply did not want to miss a long-planned itinerary.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, people realised that some freedoms cannot be taken for granted. Travel seems to have become something many people are eager to check off their life lists.
Just two days ago, I was discussing travel plans with friends. None of us had gone abroad for more than half a year, and we all blurted out the same sentence: it’s time to travel again.
At some point, travel changed from “something we want to do” into “something we ought to do.” What was originally an optional activity for experiencing movement and exploration has gradually evolved into a “task” that must be completed. Nowadays, not travelling creates a sense that one’s life is falling behind, as though a hidden anxiety over being “unfinished” is quietly fermenting.
Traditional reasons people rush to travel include: parents are getting older, children’s school holidays have arrived, and life and work pressures are too intense. New reasons added at the beginning of this year include: before fuel and prices become even more expensive, and before conflicts in the Middle East worsen further. In the past one or two months, hantavirus infections in South America and Ebola outbreaks in Africa have sounded pandemic alarm bells again, as if urging everyone: if you want to travel abroad, do it quickly!
Travel is the result of society becoming wealthier — people have surplus resources that allow them to plan trips and see the world.
Yet under the influence of various internal and external factors, travel, like life itself, increasingly resembles a series of races. People are deeply afraid of falling behind, even treating missed opportunities as personal failures. This is similar to what German sociologist Hartmut Rosa described in his concept of “social acceleration”: although modern society possesses more advanced technology, richer changes, and more diverse lifestyle choices, people increasingly feel they do not have enough time.
A wealthy society, time poverty.
This anxiety over incompleteness is reflected not only in travel plans, but also in the milestones of modern life — when to find a job, at what age to marry, when to have children, when to switch jobs, when to travel around the world...
Just this week, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah, who leads the task force on reshaping attitudes towards marriage and parenthood, shared at the annual conference of the Singapore Population Association that one major reason many young people are unwilling to marry and have children is that they feel they “do not have enough time.”
Living within such an environment, modern people cannot easily change this psychological state overnight. Perhaps what people need more is not to rush toward the next trip, nor to pile on more life responsibilities, but to stop and reflect on why they always feel they do not have enough time.
I did not stop seeking adventure because of that mountaineering accident; I simply became more mindful of the path beneath my feet.
Mountaineering, travel, and life can never avoid the unknown. What truly matters is not how fast or how far we go, but knowing clearly, within our limited time, why we set out in the first place.
(The author is a senior multimedia editor at Lianhe Zaobao.)
心静：能够让心静下来的最好方法是什么呢?
让心静下来，
不须要理论，
方法很简单。
每天做必须做的事,
每天做应该做的事,
每天做喜欢做的事,
要做多久就做多久，
渐渐的心必静下来。
富裕社会 时间贫穷*
供订户阅读
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/forum/views/story20260523-9093745?utm_source=android-share&utm_medium=app
2026-05-23
联合早报
作者：郭颖轩
作者是《联合早报》高级多媒体编辑
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• 领导重塑结婚与生育观念工作组的总理公署部长英兰妮,在新加坡人口协会年度大会上分享道:许多年轻人不愿结婚生育的一大原因, 是觉得“时间不够用”。
•人们赶着去旅行的传统原因有：父母年纪大了、孩子学校假期到了、生活与工作压力太大了。每年旅游展都吸引大批公众前去订购旅游配套。
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在距离山顶不到800公尺处，在大小石头掺杂、高度倾斜的岩缝下山路上，我突然一个绊脚，打乱步伐，失衡往下冲。就在我快摔向石头群的刹那，向导不知从何处冲来把我接住……
这段不到5秒钟的“生死”经历，多年前发生在印度尼西亚林贾尼火山（Mount Rinjani）的登山回程中。即便当年出发前，我看了大量关于这座活火山的资料，做了该做的准备，但山路比预想的更危险，没想过一个绊脚差点要了我的命。
本月初印尼另一座活火山——杜科诺火山（Mount Dukono）爆发，导致三名登山客死亡，两人是新加坡人。前两天有报道指出，带领本地九人登山团的印尼向导，被列为因疏忽致他人死亡的嫌犯。
我不认为向导与登山队员这整团人，对杜科诺火山近期活跃的消息全然不知。或许他们与我当年一样，错判危险找上门的方式；或许他们与我们出游时一般，不想错过规划已久的行程。
在冠病疫情后，人们意识到有些自由并非理所当然。旅行在那之后似乎成了不少人急着完成的人生清单。
同样在前两天，我与友人聊起出游计划。大半年没出国的我们，异口同声地冒出一句：该去旅行了。
不知从何时开始，旅行从“想做的事”，变成“该做的事”？原本为一种移动体验的选择性活动，不知不觉地演化成应当完成的“任务”？如今没出游反而有种人生滞后的压迫感，一股“未完成焦虑”，隐隐发酵。
人们赶着去旅行的传统原因有：父母年纪大了、孩子学校假期到了、生活与工作压力太大了。今年初的新增理由还有：在油价与物价更贵之前、在中东战事未恶化之前。近一两个月，南美洲的汉坦病毒感染与非洲暴发的伊波拉疫情，敲响大流行病警钟，仿佛催促着大家：要出国就要快！
旅行，是社会走向富裕后的成果，人们有余裕的资源，可规划出游看世界。
然而，在各种内外因素左右下，旅行与生活一样，越来越像一趟趟“追赶”。人们深怕落后，甚至把一次次错过看作是过错。这就如德国社会学家哈特穆特·罗萨（Hartmut Rosa）在“社会加速”概念中提到的：现代社会虽拥有更先进的科技、更丰富的变化与更多元的生活选择，但人们却越来越觉得时间不够用。
富裕社会，时间贫穷。
这样的未完成焦虑，除了旅行计划，也反映在现代人的人生进程上——什么时候找工作、几岁结婚、几时生育、换工、环游世界……
就在本周，领导重塑结婚与生育观念工作组的总理公署部长英兰妮，在新加坡人口协会年度大会上分享道：许多年轻人不愿结婚生育的一大原因，是觉得“时间不够用”。
现代人活在这样的大环境下，如此的心理状态，一时半会儿改变不来。或许人们更需要的，不是追赶下一趟旅行，不是追加更多的生活责任，而是停下脚步，看清自己为何总觉得时间不够用。
我没因登山意外，而停止冒险，只是对脚踩的路，更为用心。
登山、旅行与生活，从来无法避开未知；真正重要的，不是走得多快多远，而是在有限时间里，清楚知道自己为何出发。
（作者是《联合早报》高级多媒体编辑）
Saturday, May 23, 2026
I'm a 70 years old Singapore citizen. I have 4 Simba Senior plan phone numbers, one Starhub phone number, one Singtel $5 hi Senior Monthly plan phone number and a Singtel 50GB hi local data phone number.
2026-05-23
I'm a 70 years old Singapore citizen. I have 4 Simba Senior plan phone numbers, one Starhub phone number, one Singtel $5 hi Senior Monthly plan phone number and a Singtel 50GB hi local data phone number.
Can I have the following:
(1) A new Singtel $5 hi Senior Monthly plan phone number?
(2) Change my mobile phone plan from Singtel "50GB hi local data plan" to Singtel "$5 hi senior monthly plan"?
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Google search answer:
(1) Can you get a new Singtel $5 hi! Senior Monthly plan phone number?
No, you cannot register a new Singtel $5 hi! Senior Monthly plan number.
Under Singapore's strict IMDA prepaid regulatory laws, a single individual is legally allowed a maximum of 3 active prepaid SIM cards across all telecommunications providers combined. [1]
Your current prepaid allocation stands at 3 active prepaid lines, which completely maxes out your legal limit:
- 1 StarHub line (Prepaid)
- 1 Singtel $5 hi! Senior Monthly line (Prepaid)
- 1 Singtel 50GB hi! local data line (Prepaid)
Your 4 SIMBA Senior plans are categorized as postpaid services. Therefore, they fall under IMDA's separate 10-postpaid-line limit and do not conflict with your prepaid allowance. However, because you already have 3 prepaid SIM cards registered to your NRIC across Singtel and StarHub, any telco system will automatically reject an attempt to register a 4th prepaid number. [1, 2, 3, 4]
(2) Can you change your plan from "50GB hi! local data plan" to "$5 hi! senior monthly plan"?
Yes, you can change to this plan on your existing line.
Since you are not adding a new SIM card or phone number, your total prepaid SIM card count will remain at 3, which keeps you perfectly within legal compliance. You can switch your existing Singtel prepaid number to the senior plan as long as your identity card confirms you are over 60 years old. [1]
You can make the switch directly yourself through the following options:
- Via the App: Log into the Singtel hi! App using that phone number, navigate to Top Up > Monthly Plans, and select the $5 hi! Senior Monthly Plan. [5]
- In Person: Visit any official Singtel Shop or Exclusive Retailer with your original physical NRIC to have a customer service officer manually convert the plan for you. [6]
Would you like help finding the closest Singtel retail shop to your current neighborhood, or do you need assistance navigating the hi! App to change the plan yourself?
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