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 Response
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 clearly outweightotally overshadow its merits.
To begin with, it is true that the emergence of social networking websites and applications such as Facebook hashave revolutionized the way people contact one another. More specifically, todayTo be more specific, nowadays, regardless of geographical distance, people in most parts of the worldpeople from most places on the planet can send messages or make video callsmake 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 onlineonline-based communication tools, including Facebook and Viber, employeespeople working in enterprises can conduct their meetings via the internet, also eliminating the need for people to be in one placein the one place to conduct a meeting. As a result, face-to-face conversations are gradually being replaced by virtual exchangesvirtual communication exchanges.
However, the aforementioned merits are totally eclipsed by the potential drawbackspotential 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 replacing their real-life relationships with digital communicationsubstituting their real-life relations with digital communication. In fact, a large number of young people nowadays tend to prefer making friends through social mediavia means of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, to meeting in persongathering 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 interpersonal skillsa 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 networksnetworking. Consequently, their ability to read and write in situations that require formality is greatly reduced.
In conclusion, although social media has brought some benefits tofor society, the drawbacks of overusing such advanced technology to replace real-life communication areis much more significant.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response maintains a clear position and supports it with logically developed benefits and drawbacks, particularly the consequences for social connection and formal literacy. Its main limitation is that the advantages are sometimes described as communication mechanisms rather than explicitly weighed benefits, while several repetitive or awkward expressions reduce precision; make the comparative evaluation more explicit throughout and use more natural collocations.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The question is fully addressed with a clear position and relevant, generally developed ideas on both sides.
Explicitly explain why each stated benefit is less significant than the disadvantages instead of leaving some comparison implicit.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response progresses logically through a clear four-paragraph structure, with cohesive devices supporting the argument.
Reduce repeated transitions and phrasing so connections between ideas feel less mechanical and more economical.
Lexical Resource
A sufficiently wide vocabulary conveys the argument clearly, though several collocations are awkward or redundant.
Replace combinations such as redundant descriptions of drawbacks and unnatural references to relationships with more idiomatic wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A good range of complex structures is used with generally strong control, despite occasional agreement and article errors.
Proofread subject-verb agreement and article choice, especially in long sentences with plural subjects.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS Writing Task 2
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?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.