Digital communication technology, such as email,instant messaging and social media, has improved communication and connections between people. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

It is true that new technologies have had an influence on communication between people around the world. I think that while technology makes communication easier than before, it is no substitute for face-to-face communication. On the one hand, new digital technology has several advantages of improving communication between people in the whole world. Firstly, it allows people to communicate with others no matter what time. For example, nowadays people could contact others by texting messages and sending emails instead of writing letters by hand which has certain timeliness. Second, it not only allows people to communicate with domestic people but also enable them to contact people all over the world at the push of a button. Finally, digital technology makes people get in touch with someone without any charge, they do not have to consider the postage fees which allowing people to contact someone more frequently. On the other hand, the effect that social media, such as Facebook have had on society and local connections can only be seen as negative. Rather than individuals taking part in their local community, they are instead choosing to take more interest in people online. Consequently, although people have thousands of friends in a virtual world, they do not know about each other in reality, even do not meet each other, just waste their productive time. Moreover, society as a whole is becoming increasingly disjointed and fragmented as people spend more time online with people they have never met face to face. In conclusion, although modern technology has brought individuals closer together, they have not had the same effect on society or local community.