Nowadays, more people are choosing to socialise online rather than face to face.
Is this a positive or negative development?
Model Answer (7 Band):
Many people, in recent times, prefer to socialise online instead of personal interaction. This trend often leads to isolation, emotional and financial loss to individuals because they do not know the real character of the persons whom they interact with online.
Although socialising online is rather easier than connecting with people physically, the relationships may not last longer as most of the people are not seen each other. Consequently, people often feel isolated even though they have many friends in their online profiles. A person, for instance, can connect with another who is abroad and they may not see each other really in their life and cannot share their problems.
Online interactions, most of the times do not require to disclose the real identity of the persons involved because of the very nature of the medium. Moreover, impostors creating an online profile with fake identity and interacting with others has become prevalent these days in the form of emotional relationships among youth and often resulting in criminal issues.
Finally, online socialisation also causes financial loss to many people as fraudsters often find it convenient means to connect with others as they do not need to show their original identity, and can
easily steal personal information of others with criminal motives. Online scammers often cheat people who are in their network through blackmailing and faking themselves as they are in some trouble. The increasing number of cybercrimes, for example, is the clear sign of this menace.
In conclusion, online socialisation has become widespread as it is easier for fraudsters to connect and form relationships with people whom they never meet in person and it eventually pushes many innocent people into many risks and difficulties.