Essay about how technology affects communication and interaction between people

It is a general fact/ is generally acknowledged that the process in which people interact has been affected because of the technological progress, but this inevitably gives rise to the question of whether this phenomenon has altered life in a positive or a negative way.

Some experts claim that im personal communication has diminished. Through technology the proper interaction among the interlocutors is eliminated, (comma) thus people are more and more keen on making conversations only in front of a screen, whereas in the real life they are not able to develop any kind of relationship. For instance, the most of the young people are more confident when searching for lovers/ partners through Facebook or Skype rather than flirting and having romantic affairs in the real world.

On the other hand, many social networkers believe that technology has made them more social, since it enables them to transfer those relationships to the real world, too. Actually, networkers find it easier to make friends through social networks/ media, while they substitute mobile devices with actually meeting each other at local cafés or other places that they are keen on.

Not only has technology influenced people individually, but it has also assisted the business activity through firms around the world. In fact, companies are able to cooperate with other corporations and sell their products in the global market. Therefore, technology has enabled economic growth around the most transitioning economies. A case in point could be Greek family businesses which are active in the field of tourism and are now able to globally advertise their activity on the Internet. ---> Good point, but is this related to human relationships?

In my point of view, (comma) because every coin has two sides, technological effects on communication depend on which way people use it. I am convinced that technology requires wisdom and limits. (a bit unclear, maybe one extra sentence could explain it better)

Some speaking questions answered by Germanos

Part 1

Which magazines and newspapers do you read?

Nowadays I don’t really read any newspapers often, except sometimes that I want to be informed about the political and financial problems of my country , and that’s because I find them really expensive and apart from that I can easily find them online on the web.

What kinds of article are you most interested in?

I really enjoying reading articles from magazines with scientific content and that’s mostly because I love mathematics and computer science. I also want to know how the market’s going, so I love reading articles about the stock market, I don’t have any specific reason why I read those articles , it’s just a personal preference .

Have you ever read a newspaper or magazine in a foreign language?

Actually, I’m reading magazines in English all the time, and not just me, but all the adults, and that’s because nowadays it’s easy to (browse them from) flick through them on the internet, it's free and fast. For instance when I wake up in the morning I like drinking my coffee browsing a newspaper on the web, it’s a nice ‘company’.

Do you think reading a newspaper or magazine in a foreign language is a good way to learn the language?

Well to learn the language from all aspects no, but when you flick though a magazine , written in English for example , you can sometimes understand, people's culture and their everyday activities. However, (comma) reading an English magazine also allows you to know the people's slang, which is really hard to get acquainted with alone. In conclusion, (comma) reading a magazine can be beneficial and simultaneously can harm you, if you are trying to learn English only from them.

Part 2

Describe a restaurant that you enjoyed going to. You should say: 1) where the restaurant was, 2) why you chose this restaurant, 3) what type of food you ate in this restaurant and explain why you enjoyed eating in this restaurant.

If I remember correctly it was two years ago, the restaurants’ name was china town and it was located in syntagma (Athens) .From the first second that I saw it , it was amazing, the service was excellent and fast. (Full stop) Imagine that the waitress was filling our glasses with water all the time and her reactions were really fast. It had great salads with many vegetables, and the two most exciting dishes was duck with sweet sauce and vegetables, and a soup filled with shark fin, the last one was delicious. Other than that, I really like their ‘traditional’ beer, the Chinese beer. In a nutshell the atmosphere was amazing and I would like to visit them again in the near future, it was worth every penny.

Some of part 3 questions

Some people say that food in an expensive restaurant is always better than food in a cheap restaurant – would you agree?

Well, I have never considered this matter before, but I’m inclined to believe that sometimes expensive restaurants are believed to be better due to pricey materials and ingredients they use in order to cook the food that they serve. I also have to mention that we might sometimes pay more for the trademark of the restaurant than the actual ly food that we order, and that’s because some restaurants are luxury and we need to choose them on more special occasions like birthdays or weddings. So in conclusion I disagree.

How important is it for a country to be able to grow all the food it needs, without importing any other from other countries?

That’s a tough question to be answered, but the true question is, can a country grow all the food it needs alone? I guess the answer is no, because this is nearly impossible. For example here in Greece as a Mediterranean country we has the advantage of growing vegetables thanks to the right conditions but we don’t have all kinds of fruits that we might need, like the African ones, so we are forced to import them from our neighbors. All in all, (comma) the more food a country grows, the wealthier it gets.

Speaking Practice

http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/prepare-your-test/free-practice-tests/speaking-practice-test-1

The Speaking test is 11-14 minutes long and is in three parts.

Part 1	You will answer questions about yourself and your family.
Part 2	You will speak about a topic.
Part 3	You will have a longer discussion about the topic introduced in Part 2.

The Speaking test is the same for both IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training tests.

Downloadable resources for teachers and students

http://www.ielts-exam.net 

How to improve your speaking score by using better vocabulary

Watch the video by the British Council: http://youtu.be/LQQE2hWrl98

Splendid help by Splendid Speaking

• Topic vocabulary for IELTS
• IELTS Speaking task sheets

Writing Tips Video

Good luck video!

The very best of luck to you, Thanasi, for tomorrow! May all your efforts pay off! Here is a video illustrating the very... unexpected way you can say good luck using sign language!

___________

On the day the exam results were announced:

A huuuuge bravo to you Thanasi! I am so excited today! You managed to get the desired score in just 1.5 months- that is a very important accomplishment if you ask me! Well done once again! As I wrote on Facebook, hard work and BLOGGING always pay off, right? :-)

Life is easier today than it was 500 years ago.

In the twenty-first century, alot of things have changed, compared to five hundred years ago. Nowadays, development in every field, but especially technological development, render our life more convenient and easier.I am inclined to believe that people have better living standarts and higher quality of life the last five hundred years.

First of all, the development of medicine has improved our life.In previous centuries, medical procedures were very dependent on nature. Additionally, doctors were not as specialized and knowledgable as today. In our days, techniques, medicines, drugs and biological methods have been discovered in order to treat diseases and illnesses. Medicine is more effective and faster in its treatment today. This is clearly illustrated by many operations which have become routine processes.

Another argument in favour of the current way of living is the technological development and innovations which have made our life advantageous by turning it into a simple and easy series of function. For example, kitchen appliances and generally house appliances, advanced tools and gadgets. Furthermore, inventions like cars, ships and aircrafts ameliorated the transportation in time. Computers, mobile phones and the Internet annihilated the distance between people in terms of communication. Moreover, our life and work became more auspicious and productive respectively by advanced technological equipment.

To sum up, our life has improved dramatically during the last century. Our average quality of our life increased substantially due to technology and medicine.

Increasing the price of petrol is the best way to solve traffic ans pollution problems.To what extend do you agree or disagree?Other measures.

Nowadays,both the price of petrol and pollution increase rapidly. Towns also suffered from traffic jams due to the excessive use of cars.I am inclined to believe that high prices in petrol are not the best solution available,but help to reduce pollution and traffic.
First of all,extra costs will definately discourage people to use cars,thus urge them to resort to other means of transport. For example, people could use buses, bikes even walking in order to circulate.This means that they reduce their expenses ,as well as the city pollution and traffic to a great extend and also improve their health.Additionally,pollution and traffic are not just caused by the burning of petrol; to these problems chemical wastes,industries,wrong mentality,narrow streets and lack of traffic lights in most of situations contribute significantly.
Consequently, we must introduce more effective measures to achieve radical changes.For instance cheaper tickets for public means of transportation.Moreover, bikes can be free at the citizens' disposal which means the citizens will gradually using alternative means to get transported.Furthermore,car-pooling is another measure.Only one car can be used when we want to circulate if a lot of people go to the same destination.What is more, wider streets and more traffic lights will result in reducing traffic jams.In my opinion, these are some measures, which will give an effective solution to the aforementioned problems.
In conclusion, if we apply all the above in combination with changing our mentality, we will live in a better place,away from polluting traffic jams.