Question 1
You listened to a speech by the head prefect of your school during your school’s
English Week. The following comment was made by the head prefect:
Social media has made us less social.
Do you agree with the statement? Write an essay of at least 250 words.
Nowadays, most of us prefer using online platform or social media to communicate
with others. With various applications to choose from, we somehow use them to
convey our messages and emotions or simple notes. But social media has drawn much
criticism for rendering people as self-absorbed, hypocritical and unsocial tech-addicts.
I partially agree that social media has made us less social. Social media truly has a
negative side in social skill because its decreases face to face communication skills
and affects our familial relations. However, I also believe that social media has a
positive side due to these reasons social media can help to enlarge our social circle.
Firstly, communication through social media prevent us from conveying the
nuances of face to face conversation, depriving us of the opportunity to express
human emotions with depth, variety and novelty. Social media causes face to face
interactions to feel disconnected. It is because social media or smartphone causes the
distractions in conversation that make us unfocused. For example, sometimes friends
use their phones so much that it is difficult to have an actual conversation with them.
These creating small gaps and hole in close friendship or relationship. Thus, social
media make familial relation socially neglected.
Besides that, social media make us anti-social because it affects our familial
relations. The bond between family members will become stronger if they help each
other through thick and thin to make sure they live in harmonious surrounding.
However, most parents are busy to make end meet and they tend to neglect their
children that need them. Therefore, some parents chose the easiest way to convey
their gratitude or appreciations through online application like Whatsapp and
Telegram instead of rushing to schools if their children received awards on something.
The lack of love showed by parents somehow affecting the children’s emotional state.
They might feel jealous looking at their friend’s parents coming to school to spending
time together. This will lead to issues an if the suppressed emotions are not being
treated well by the parents. They would care less about their parents, so they chose to
spend time alone in their room and spend their time to play gadget. Thus, social media
can also help to enlarge our social circle.
Finally, social media provides an avenue to enlarge our social circle, which used to
be largely confined within acquaintances formed through our education, career and
family ties, allowing us to have more opportunities to interact. Previously, we rarely
connected with those outside of our daily routines. Through social media, we are now
able to access millions of personal Facebook profiles or strike up instantaneous
conversations on Twitter with a single click, transcending time and space. Socializing
is like fishing,the social media net will certainly catch more fish than the single rod of
traditional communication.
In conclusion, social media gives everyone an equal opportunity to limitless
connections. It is irrational to expect social media to uphold all the expectations we
have for socializing. After all, beneath the veil of avatars online rests tender human
hearts with a genuine desire to connect and to be connected.
Question 2
You attended a talk by a famous Instagrammer, during your college’s “Business
Studies Workshop”. The following comment was made by the guest speaker.
Influencers are the best medium to advertise products.
Do you agree with this statement? Write an essay of at least 250 words.
Nowadays, advertising campaigns featuring influencers who endorse and promote
various products are extremely common. Influencers endorsements can drive product
sales, especially when social media is involved. However, are these endorsements
based on fact? I disagree with the statement that influencers are the best medium to
advertise products as the advertisements may make false claims, conceal valuable
information or may not be a genuine testament to the product’s effectiveness.
Firstly, product advertisements featuring influencers may make false claims,
especially when itroducing a new product. Influencers are being used to upsurge the
rate of products acceptance as consumers watch their favourite influencers using the
new products. One example is when high-profile influencer is donning a pair of
newly-launched sneakers which claims to contain hidden new technology that could
help burn calories. Consumers assume the sneakers contribute greatly to help burn the
calories. The consumer may buy the product, only to discover it does not function as
claimed.
Besides that, advertisements using influencers endorsement may not reveal
valuable information pertinent to consumers. Consumers may see only the positive
aspects of a influencer and ignore any product related potential dangers or negative
information that might not mentioned in the advertisement. For example, consumers
might focus on the slim, attractive influencers endorsing a slimming product instead
of researching the product’s effectiveness and side effects. This means that these
consumers are more interested in looking like the influencers than checking out the
product for themselves.
Finally, we do not know if the influencers endorsing the product has any pesonal
experience of its effectiveness. The influencers may been chosen to front the
advertisement simply because the amount of payment they get or theirs look and
brand matches the products. That influencers may in fact never have used the product
at all before endorsing it. For example, the smooth skin of the middle-aged
influencers endorsing a skin cream may be the result of heavy make-upp or digital
touch up, instead of that cream. A consumer who rushes to buy a product without
doing research on product suitability may feel disappointed or misled if the product
does not provide the desired effect.
In conclusion, influencers endorsement advertisements may not be all that they
seem. I definitely disagree with the statement that influencers are the best medium to
advertise products. Consumers need to be aware of this. They should be wise enough
to choose a quality product instead of being influenced by a famous face.
