Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Writing Task 2, 3rd July
WRITING TASK 2 (AC + GT)
WRITING TASK 2 (AC + GT)
The users of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, are replacing face-to-face contact in this century.
Do you think the advantages of this way outweigh the disadvantages?
SAMPLE ANSWER
It is claimed that modern technological tools for communication, including social media, are gradually replacing direct contact among people. From my perspective, the drawbacks of this trend totally overshadow its merits.
To begin with, it is true that the emergence of social networking websites and applications such as Facebook have revolutionized the way people contact one another. To be more specific, nowadays, regardless of geographical distance, people from most places on the planet can send messages or make use of video calls to keep in touch with their loved ones, eliminating the need for people to gather in one place for face-to-face conversations. In terms of business, thanks to the invention of online-based communication tools, including Facebook and Viber, people working in enterprises can conduct their meetings via the internet, also eliminating the need for people to be in the one place to conduct a meeting. As a result, face-to-face conversations are gradually being replaced by virtual communication exchanges.
However, the aforementioned merits are totally eclipsed by the potential negative drawbacks of this trend. Firstly, in this technological era, with the development of online communication tools, it can be seen that many people are substituting their real-life relations with digital communication. In fact, a large number of young people nowadays tend to prefer making friends via means of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, to gathering at a real place.
In the long term, this would gradually alienate people from communities, which could even lead to social isolation and a lack of many interpersonal skills. Secondly, literacy skills of many people could also be negatively affected due to the lack of social interaction and ways to transmit formal messages. It is true that most individuals, especially teenagers, often use informal language with several emoticons when communicating on social networking. Consequently, their ability to read and write in situations that require formality is greatly reduced.
In conclusion, although social media has brought some benefits for society, the drawbacks of overusing such advanced technology to replace real-life communication is much more significant.
