Over 60% of Singaporeans do not know their neighbours' names - do you?

We may see our neighbours every day when we leave home for work - in the lifts, or at bus stops - but how many of us have actually stopped to find out their names.

In celebration of Singapore's 52nd National Day, local retailer myCK and Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) partnered up to find out how well people in Singapore knew their neighbours.

As part of NYP's Mass Media Management course curriculum, 55 students formed groups of four or five to compete against each other in creative ways.

The winning team produced a video titled "#KnowYourNeighbours", which interviewed 23 people aged between 13 and 84. Interview participants comprise of students, working adults, retirees and foreign nationals.

Survey findings revealed that even though 100 per cent of its participants have spoken to their neighbours before, 60.9 per cent of them do not know their neighbours' names.

Common reasons raised include being busy with work or school, distanced relationships after time, lack of opportunities for interaction and individual personalities of shyness.

On the brighter side, 91.3 per cent of the respondents are interested to know their neighbours better, and are open to initiatives that would help them do so.

The partnership with NP is myCK's first collaboration with a school, and the company is looking into more creative ways to engage youths in examining topics that influence the ecosystem of the heartlands.

"myCK's culture is one that takes pride in building relationships between people," said Ms Ang Wei Xia, Director of C K Department Store.

"Operating mainly in heartland areas, we see the importance of our role in the neighbourhoods to kickstart the movement of bridging neighbours together," she added. 

[embed]https://studio.brightcove.com/products/videocloud/media/videos/5526553270001[/embed]

ongymm@sph.com.sg

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