IELTS Writing Task 2

Social Media Benefits And Drawbacks

people images

Advantage and Disadvantage

people images

10 unique answers with expert feedback

Instructions

WRITING TASK 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Nowadays, a large majority of individuals all over the world rely on various social media platforms to keep themselves informed about current events throughout the world.

Do the benefits of this trend outweigh the drawbacks?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Top rated answers

Here are the 5 highest scoring answers by real-users for this IELTS Writing Task 2 Advantage and Disadvantage topic.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

2 months 19 days ago

The world has become a fast-moving place for humans to live over the past few decades. Modernization is on the rise due to frequent innovations of technology and science. The presence of various social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have helped people gain access to information and knowledge faster than ever. People are now more dependant on these applications rather than conventional techniques such as reading newspapers and interacting with other people. Social media has been a boon in regard to corporate professionals due to information being available in the click of a button. In this highly competitive and volatile world, availability of rapid data is very important as it influences various high stake decisions such as mergers, takeovers and stock deals. Few seconds or minutes have been the difference between successful and unsuccessful decisions in the recent times. While social media platforms have their own benefits, it also has it's downside. A large quantity of information available in these platforms can be rumours or speculations. For example, I once believed a rumour on Reddit that stocks of Tata Consultancy services was about to experience a huge rise in the upcoming week, which led me to lose my pocket money as the information was fake. Data needs to be more secure and filtered in social media platforms. Conventional methods such as socializing and reading newspapers, help avoid these type of speculations and risks since the knowlegde gained is already filtered and secure.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

2 months 20 days ago

This days, most number of people across various countries depend on multiple networking apps to keep themselves updated about the present scenarios of the world. In this essay I am goin to discuss about the limitations and strenghts regarding this trend, and also justify why the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. To begin with, one of the major demerit of getting information through social media is false news. Multiple pages in social media apps like Instagram, twitter and facebook, spread incorrect news about serious issues on this apps. Which causes panic, anxiety and outrage among people, it might also cause political instability in a county. For example, during the time of COVID-19, various pages in social media circulated incorrect healthcare precautions, which had put people at serious risk. On the other hand, there are numerous merits of getting information from social media. Firstly, social media provides information faster and more straight-forward news than the new channels or news papers. Nowadays, the attention span of youngsters have reduced significantly, so they don't have the patience for watching news because it provides more deatils abot the situation. Additionaly, if some major incident took place in the country the news pages in social media will report on it as soon as possible. However in TV the prime news are mainly broadcasted during early morning or night. For example, my cousin who has never watched news on TV, still knows all the information about the world because of apps like twitter and instagram. Secondly, it is more convenient for many individuals to access news through this apps. Such as people who are working or studing and don't have much time to watch news on TV, so they can watch news anywhere and anytime of the day with the help of it. In conclusion, it can be said that even though there are some disadvantge of this trend such as getting false information, but the advantage like accessablity and convenience truly outweighs the demerits reagarding this trend.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

2 months 20 days ago

Science and Technology can both be described as a boon and a curse for society. This has both positive and negative aspects. In this modern era, only a small minority of people all over the world avoid relying on social media platforms to keep themselves informed about current affairs. The paragraph below provides an overview of these perspectives. On the one hand, Social media responses are so fast that even before any incident occurs, people from all over the world are cautious about them. A small event in any part of the world spreads like wildfire, caught between trees. For example, the information about an earthquake or heavy currents of a tornado in Japan reaches the northeast part of America in seconds. This calls for a fast response, which is the first step of disaster mitigation. On the other hand, not all the news on social media is reliable, as various hackers and violators are trying their best to drill into the minds of people and instill hatred between individuals. Therefore, we have to first confirm whether the news is correct before jumping to conclusions, but this is not possible in most cases. In case of any disaster warnings, we can not wait for the confirmation from the government side, as this will take ages. We have to act fast if needed to avoid the consequences. The main aspects discussed in the above sections highlight the basic idea we shared in the start that this is a boon and a curse. But, on carefully considering the facts about the consequences of both sides we can conclude that the benefits always outweigh the drawbacks.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

2 months 21 days ago

In recent times, Most of the people are depending on internet resources world wide, keeping themselves engaged with present news and media. There are two aspects of this statement that I like to give through this essay. To begin with, the benefits of using digital media is, its very convenient and real-time processing of various data. It helps the users to get information in fraction of a second. Not only it provides global events accurately but also allows the people to share files quickly and effectively. These advantages keeps the community alert and focused on the current affairs and things happening in the world. For instance, the use of Social Apps like Instagram, Youtube and Chatgpt gives corresponding to the moments happening around the countries. On the contrary, users should have a proper control over their media platforms, instead it creates a huge drawback for the operators. Networking is done for knowledge building and creative thinking, but it acts as a negative driving force for young minds and also spoils the upcoming generation. For example, Studies have shown that 75% of Whatsapp forwarded messages are possible of false information. People often blinded by social platforms and sharing with others without confirming if the news is fake or not. This poses a dark side of web-usage. To conclude, in my opinion, the advantages of media advancements does not weigh more than the disadvantages, but instead people should understand and face the reality with postivity and know the consequences while working with various virtual sources.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

2 months 21 days ago

In recent times, the method of news sharing across the planet has undergone rapid transformation with the introduction of social media platforms. Nowadays, a huge proportion of population uses digital platforms to receive worldwide updates. This essay will highlight, how the positives of using social media platforms outweigh the negtives. To begin with, social media is providing a new connection to the world. The information that used to take days or weeks to get delivered to the world, can now be done in fractions of a second. Apart from that, globalisation in the past was just a mere term which generally global reporters or the politicians used but today this word is in everyone's head, probably because of social media. Therefore, people are more updated about the global events than the past. Secondly, traditional news delivery method was a time consuming process and also could only be done by experts but through social media anyone can now post about global events and can also share his/her views on the incident easily on the platforms like X, youtube or instagram. Additionally, people nowadays use these platforms to grasp knowledge on geopolitics and history which makes these applications more reliable to use over traditional methods. However, digital platforms have some limitations like spread of fake news, use for propaganda creation or various other issues but these issues are treatable and do not act as a burden over government. In conclusion, social media platforms have some limitations like spread of fake narratives or creating a false propaganda but these issues do not outweigh the benefiets like open speech, rapid news delivery or opinion sharing perks. To conclude, the pros of social media platforms outweigh the cons.

All Answers

Here are all the answers by real-users practicing writing for IELTS writing Task 2 Advantage and Disadvantage on our IELTS Prep App.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

10 months 23 days ago

The advent of social media has made the global population dependent rather than self-efficient. In today's era, a significant amount of the population is resting on the shoulders of social media to gain knowledge of the latest events happening across the globe. Social media handles have merits and demerit their way while every individual has different opinions, the benefits and drawbacks shall be discussed in this essay. On the one hand, social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are capable enough to spread any news at lightning-fast speed. Moreover, any individual with access to the internet can follow the latest updates happening anywhere in the world and can share. Additionally, everyone must keep themselves informed about the events happening around them and it makes them knowledgeable and smart. Furthermore, with a variety of features provided by the social media website, it enables any individual to show the live telecast of a particular event as well can record it and post it on their feed to broadcast that information to the rest of the world. On the other hand, the accountability and credibility of the information provided by these social media platforms should be questioned. Traditional methods of spreading information were believed to be the best as the authenticity of the News never went under investigation. On top of that, the misinformation that escalates can be a thing to worry about. Nowadays, even live telecasts are hacked by professional hackers which likewise becomes an activity to keep an eye on. To summarise, from my viewpoint, the drawbacks outweigh the benefits as it is very crucial to pass on authenticated information rather than spreading a plethora of misinformation so that every individual is acclimatized by the truth and not blinded by the rumor they see.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

10 months 24 days ago

Nowadays, social media platforms have been used widely by all the age groups. A vast majority of humans around the globe are using different social media to gather world wide information about the current affairs. I agree that the advantages of this ongoing trend are at par of disadvantages. This essay will highlight the merits of using social media platforms to get the current news of the world and how this overshadows the drawbacks. To commence with, the major benefits of using various media platforms as a source of information is that people get themselves updated with the current information which helps them to stay ahead in this fast-paced world. Moreover, it helps them to survive in the cut-throat competition with their peer group. For instance, my friend's family voraciously uses instagram, facebook, and google news to collect and learn about what is going on around the world and because of this habit, they are all so much ahead of everyone who takes the information from newspaper. Newspaper readers tend to get the news late. Hence, social media is a great way to know the recent news. On the other hand, the distinct viewpoint of this trend is that people tend to ignore the news that appears in newspaper. Furthermore, the information printed in newspapers generally comes from reliable source. For example, a friend of mine who used to read newspaper everyday loved the fact that the information provided to him comes from a definite source. Therefore, reliable source of information is greatly appreciated by many individuals. In conclusion, there are wide range of merits of this trend and very less demerits. In my opinion, advantages of this trend outweigh the drawbacks.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

10 months 24 days ago

To start with, it is an undeniable fact that social media has revolutionized all the aspects of our lives. These days, most of the people across the globe depend on it in order to keep themselves up to date about trending events. The advantages of this overtakes the disadvantages and this essay will provide the reasons for the same. Firstly, the social media platforms are free to use and do not require any subscription to operate which makes it very acessable to anyone who has a provision of internet. Secondly, these applications fecilitate live news. In simpler words they broadcast the on going news in real time with zero latency. For example Facebook and Instagram have a dedicated section called live news which will give the information about the trending events. Additionally, they also give international news , which means anyone for anywhere around the world can get information about any place remotely. On the other hand, the social media platforms are prone to spread fake or unauthorized news which can cause a lot of problems. For instance, last week a fake post went viral which mentioned that friday was a holiday which was not issued by the government due to which many students did not go to school on a working day assuming that its a holiday. However such posts can be avoided using software filtering which will mitigate such issues. In conclusion, majority of individuals internatinally rely on different social media platforms to get information about the on going events and the pros of this ouweights its cons.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

11 months 19 days ago

In today's fast forward world each of us are always occupied with something or the other and do not find the leisure to sit at one place and grasp the knowledge from reading newspaper. This is where social media platforms pitch-in and helps us keep udated regarding the ongoing trends in almost every field from different parts of the world. Social Media usage has a lot of perks if used in the right manner at right time. The first and most important one being the immediate flow of information as it gets public for instance news of any mergers happening between two rival companies or results of elections as the counting is happening live etc. These can be even utilized by even people of remote areas where news papers might not be easily accesible. The best part of these social media platforms is unlike local news papers we can get the information about global events at our finger tips as and when it occures. Though these have a lot of benifits it comes at a cost of inaccurate data being published without doing the thorough background verification and different social media pages competing against each other in a rat race to get the most engagement on their posts which gets us concerned on the fact if we can trust them with the news that they post blindly. Instead of covering the news promptly these media platforms engage in manipulating facts, stalking and morphing which is a direct attack on journalism these needs to be under strict supervision of governement with severe laws to govern them and their functioning. In my personal experience I have been using social media platforms to consume news and stay updated since last 5 years and it has immensly proven to be useful as I am in sync with all the events in all the major fields in comparision to my peers who consume the same content through traditional approach like newspapers, magazines. At the end as we all know social media gives us many distractions to keep us away from the facts we desire to consume. A mindful choice has to be made to choose one to go ahead for staying updated with relevant information.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

11 months 20 days ago

These days, majority of the world population depends on various social media sites to remain up to date in current affairs of the whole world. This essay will discuss both the merits and demerits of this trend . To begin with, with the ongoing popularity of social media, a news now has the potential to become a sensation and get viral within seconds. People nowdays are becoming more dependant on their phones to get latest updates in news as compared to newspapers. This has many plus points, like for instance reading news has become less time consuming and less cumbersome with the modernization of technology. Now people can watch news anywhere or everywhere just with a click of a button as opposed to before where they had to carry papers or magazines. On the other hand the downsides of this trend outweighs its benefits. Social media has become a platform where people likes to fake things .They paint the picture in the minds of the reader, according to their preferrence, completely concealing the truth. Hence, spread of false news or fake stories on social platforms is also a trend which cannot be ignored. For instance, once a news became viral on SNS that the world would end in 2012, many people believed it and were trulyshaken by it. To their surprise it eventually turned out to be false rumour. Moreover, over dependancy of individuals on phones for news would ultimately lead to increasing screen times and health issues like poor eyesight, stress and headache. In conclusion, although reading news from social media is a good alternative to remain updated about the current affairs, its authenticity has to be checked before completely believing it.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

11 months 20 days ago

The modern era of social media presents a great opportunity for individuals to gain knowledge and insight about global trends and occurences. There's a shift in the society where digital platforms are preferred to gain information and reviews at all times, from anywhere in the world. This has made a strong impact on politics around the world. Moreover, this growing trend comes with greater risks than anticipated. With the advent of technology and easier access to internet, people started shifting towards social media platforms and websites for information. Almost every individual in today's world owns a social media account. This makes the platform the best tool to access people's mind and thoughts. In the 21st century, a signifcant number of polls and events are initiated and held digitally, wherein people can be a part sitting at their homes. This has also been useful to educate those who were previously unaware of global situations. Therefore, a positive impact is highly anticipated by this change. Apparently, this doesn't hold true in the real life. Quite often, these platforms are misused to issue false statements and spread misinformation. There are negative elements in the society that tend to utilize this medium to instill hatred and resentment into people. Although there are tools to verify such information, there is still no filter on certain type of media that is easily available online. For example, threatening videos, abusive terms, graphic images often surface online which shows that these platforms can be greatly misused. In the present world, wars and crimes can be motivated via social media. The lack of any regulation or filteration on these platforms allowed people to misdirect the youth and sensitive individuals on a darker path. The disadvantages of this technology already exceed the advantages, hence, there should be a significant correction in its term of use to bring about reform and a positive impact.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

11 months 20 days ago

In modern world people of all age groups are using social media applications like facebook and instagram inorder to get all the news and updates that are happening across the globe. i personally believe that these platforms have accurate and precise information than traditional news channels There are numerous benefits of using social media applications like facebook,whatsapp and instagram because the access to information is easy and we get short and clearn info so that we can understand the issuse in a better way. Now a days young people aged between 16-29 are addicted to social media platforms and they do not have time to see what is happening across the world so social media is the only way that they can acess this kind of information. The cons of this excess usage of social media applications is huge because there is high chance of passing fasle information for their personal gains and due to more screen times we get certain kind of health issues like head ache and eyes strain, So we need to minimize the usage of this platforms To sumup this i want to say that use social media platforms like facebook, X, instagram and whatsapp for good cause and try to spread real and useful information to people so that they can get benefitted from that and stop hate and spreading of false information for personal gains and social media has a lot of simps this kind of incidents happen more frequently. Always try to share good content to others and avoid negativity

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

11 months 20 days ago

In recent times, huge population depend upon social media application to keep them upto date with present events happening throughout the world. While there is disadvantage, there are many positve reasons. This essay will discuss about why there are more advantages than disadvantages of such platform. On the one hand, depending on social media has some drawback, one major reason is reliablity. Social media influencers tend to make viral vidoes without a complete or proper fact checks just to gather more views, as more views help them to make more money or more followers. For example, In times of recent election, there were lot of fake news rolling into social media platform for a elected candidate when some one mentioned in media that elected candidate has some connection with underword. Hence such news just cannot be believe without proper investigation. Reliablity is one the mazor reason society should not depend on social media. On the other hand, Instant delivery of news is one of the significant advantage of such platforms. Social media platforms like Facebook, linkdin and Instagram are part of daily life of general public. People tend to spend there daily mazor time over them. Thus, incase if anything happening over other side of world it can be known or news can be deliver in no time. For instance, the ongoing war in Gaza, people who were staying in that place statred making videos and post over platform, in no time other local people from different nation got to know what is happening there. Furthermore, another reason is cost. These platform are free to use, so one doesnot has to pay anything for it. Which make it very cost effective and easy accessable for larger public as compared to suscribing news channels or pay for newspaper. Thats why many people depends on it. In conclusion, social media platforms have more advantages than disadvantages beacuse of its Instant delivery of news and cost effectiveness.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

10 months 24 days ago

Increasing number of people around the earth are relying on numerious social media in order to keep themselves updated on current news outlets happening in the world.Although these form form of informations content have both pros and cons,I believe that advantages are more than disadvantages. There are several reasons why people choose social media as a source of information.One of them being is fast.For example,many platforms have excess to live updates through youtube or instagram which makes the consumer update in real time and gives the incident different prespective from different angles. Another reason why I agree with internet media more beneficial is that large number of audiences do not speak the same language nor many can read or write ,making it harder for them to read the news paper,thus social media like youtube on the one hand make it easier for the viewer in terms of providing subtitles and even language change can be done in one click making it easier and convinient than tradition news reading. Despite the above arguments,there are downfall to the news heard from the internet as many of the sources are unreliable and not fact check properly.As a result,it may give impact of fake resources and hard to believe upon. To conclude,with advancement of information technology across the globe throughout the span of decaded there is no doubt that majority of individuals rely on social mediafor keeping up to date with their surrounding as it is more convenient and fast,although it has some cons like unreliable and fake sorces,I believe that advantages are more than the disadvantages.

Band 6-7

IELTS Learner

10 months 22 days ago

In today's digital age people prefer to consume news through social media apps rather than conventional newspapers and news channels. This implores us to debate whether the benefits of this trend outweigh its risks. Firstly, let us consider the conventional modes of disseminating news and information, which chiefly include newspapers and news channels. The oldest form of mass media, newspapers, are also the least cost effective for both the service providers and consumers. They require to be printed individually for each consumer and also need a vast logistical network for their distribution. Moreover, they are also the least eco-friendly as they require paper for their production and once used thouroughly only increase the already excess amounts of human waste on the planet. News channels, on the other hand, are highly expensive for their viewers as they require one to have a television and a cable subscription. Even after fulfilling these prerequisites one has to adhere to the rigid schedules of the news channels, each broadcasting diiferent categories of news at different times of the day. Thus, the entire experience of recieving information via traditional modalities is highly inconvenient. In contrast, social media platform deliver information in a much quicker, cheaper and efficient manner. The only requirements for social media platforms being a smartphone and an internet connection, they allow people to access the information they desire, anywhere in the world. The omipresence of smartphones is the major factor that has resulted in social media platforms becoming ubiquitous. But, like human invention they have certain limitations as well. The major issue these platforms face is the rise of misinformation or fake news. This is largely due to the lack of regulations and accounatbility that these platforms enjoy. Thus, users must exercise caution while consuming content via social media networks. In conclusion, social media platforms have become indispensible in the modern era chiefly because of their accessibility, affordability and promptness in delivering information. However, certain issues like reliability and authenticity must be resolved in order for them to completely replace the traditional modes of broadcasting information.

ad
background image

Explore

47 Writing Topics

Latest Latest Writing Task 2 Topics

ielts logo

Get the IELTS Prep App

Star rating icon

4.2

1M+ Installs

app download banner image

Get the app link on your phone

+91

Or download app from

google play storeapp store
master ielts speaking ad