B2 – Upper Intermediate
Social Media has definitely changed our society. Now, we can easily get information on what’s going on with people from other countries. We can get connected with our friends or relatives living miles away.
But because of the usefulness, efficiency and effectiveness of social media, people are becoming too connected and dependent on it. Is social media really helping us become more connected with others?
Read the article below and be ready to answer the questions that follow.
Do social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter make people more social? Or do these sites make people become loners? Of course, social networking sites let people stay in contact, which is especially helpful in the busy world of today.
Social networking offers positives. For example, the various sites and apps help people keep in contact with “proximity friends.” These are people who are or were physically close but not personally close, such as former classmates and colleagues, parents of the children your kids play with in the neighborhood, and friends of friends. We might send these people holiday or birthday cards, or call with congratulations of a wedding or a newborn.
However, face-to-face contact is quite rare. There is the feeling of contact, but it may be superficial and achieved through emails and instant messages. The contact might not be deep and rich, even if many people know more small details about one another.
People “talk” with one another more frequently, but they meet in person less frequently. So let’s return to the original question: Are people becoming social hermits?
Source: headsupenglish.com
Discussion Questions:
1. Have you (or do you) use social networking sites? Talk about the pluses and minuses.
2. Are people better or worse communicators because of social network sites?
3. What is a social hermit? What images or ideas does this phrase raise?
4. How might social networking sites be used for business or education?
