You should spend around 40 minutes on this task.
Many people prefer to socialize online rather than spending time with local community friends.Do you think it’s advantages outweigh the disadvantages? Why?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words
MODEL ANSWER:
The way people socialize has changed over time and this is evidenced by the growing influence of social media websites. I think, the preference of online communication to local communication has more benefits.
Firstly, online socialization creates a platform which is quite favorable for the modern generation to communicate.To be precise,there are less constraints to interact online. For example, one can express his emotions any time through texts, pictures, audio files or even video calls. The second advantage of this type of socializing is that it gives the privilege of a wider circle of friends of similar interest, which might not always happen with the local community. For instance, international exposure is possible with online social media like Instagram, Twitter, Hike or WhatsApp. These applications have online translation facilities too, which no longer makes language a barrier. Experiencing and learning from other cultures are added advantages of this mode of communication. When this happens, there will be modifications in the standard of living and the world becomes smaller.
However, this is not free from criticisms. There are questions regarding cultural dilutions and losing real-life relationships. To explain it further, when the friend circle expands across international borders, the result is cultural dilution. Similarly, online socializing confines people into a virtual world of an altered emotional status, which is far different from a real inter-personal relationship.
To conclude, though there are some visible drawbacks for increasing preference to social media than local friendships in today’s world, I think one should go beyond the borders.
Word count:253