Prompt: Nowadays, more people are choosing to socialize online rather than face to face. Is this a positive or negative development?

As we live in a digital age, hence the majority of people prefer to interact online rather than meet, physically. In my opinion, this is a negative development that can lead to a lack of confidence and poor interpersonal skills. Ċ One serious problem that can arise from socialising online is a lack of confidence. Firstly, virtual communications eventually make people introverted and socially awkward because they avoid physical interactions as the internet is available 24 hours. Secondly, they lose the value of relationships that can only be attained by physical meetups. For example, it is worrisome to mention that today’s teenagers are less likely to sit amongst guests because of no confidence in facing real-life people anymore. If this trend persists, this will become a potential danger to the future world. Ċ Another problem is that socialising virtually affects individuals’ interpersonal skills that are necessary for our survival in the fast-paced world we live in today. People mostly choose mediums such as a chat messenger as a way of talking, and consequently, they lose confidence with the passage of time. Despite the digital era, it is imperative to build strong skills for interaction. Furthermore, people with poor face to face communications style have a hard time progressing in their careers later in life. For instance, most of the jobs, predominantly, blue-collar and white-collar positions, require candidates with excellent people skills. Therefore, job applicants with no speaking potential get nowhere in their lives. Ċ To conclude, although many users now choose to talk using the internet. Additionally, communicating digitally possesses some conveniences to humans but it has also brought about too many problems for this to be considered a positive trend.