Some people say that the Internet is making the world smaller by bringing people together. To what extent do you agree that the internet is making it easier for people to communicate with one another?

Undoubtedly, one of the most significant innovations in recent years has been the internet, as it has changed the way we live or lives in many ways. However, perhaps the most significant advance has been in the way we communicate. The question is whether communication has become easier or not.

There are those who argue that the internet has had an extremely positive influence on communication. They say this because in the past it was sometimes impossible to call people in other countries on the telephone, but now it is relatively simple to use a program such as Skype to talk to them for free or to send an email. A good example here are the students who go to study abroad and are able to send messages home with no difficulty, when in past they would have had to buy stamps and go to the post office which was much harder and more expensive.

There is, however, an important qualification to be made. The internet and IT in general are not always easy to access. There are two grounds for saying this. Firstly, there are countries where there is not universal internet access because of censorship or poor technological infrastructure. Secondly, the older generation can find it difficult to learn to use the technology or install a modem. If we use the same example, a grandmother would probably prefer to send a letter through the post or make a simple telephone call than try using the net.

My own personal feeling is that the internet has made it simpler to communicate for most people, but not for everyone. This will probably change in the future when there is a greater level of computer literacy among all generations.

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