In the modern world it is possible to shop, work and communicate with people via the internet and live without any face-to-face contact with others. Is this a positive or negative development? v.1

In the technology era, people are able to shop, work and communicate online. From my perspective, while there are a variety of positive aspects for this trend, there are some drawbacks of having less face-to-face contact that need taking into account. On the one hand, the internet comes in handy in many ways. People can communicate with their friends and relatives via social networks such as Facebook or Skype by sending a text or even join a group video call. Many also use the internet for online shopping since it is time-saving and they can easily compare the prices in different stores. In addition, more and more people can work or study from home, which is much more convenient because they can do at hours that suits their own schedule. This, consequently, would have improve the traffic congestion due to the lower number of vehicles, especially during rush hours. On the other hand, several negative aspects of this trend should be considered. Firstly, friendships which are formed online might not be genuine. For instance, the media carries many horror stories of youngsters being incited to commit a crime by their friends who they have met online. Secondly, in terms of shopping, it is undoubtedly better to try on clothes before buying, and another disadvantage of online shopping is sometimes delivery might cause damages to the products. Finally, personal interaction with work colleagues can easily generate ideas and avoid misunderstandings. In conclusion, while there are obvious benefits of this tendency, there are also aspects of face-to-face contact which would be a shame to lose.