The internet allows us to stay connected with each other no matter where we are. On the other hand, it also isolates us and encourages people not to socialise. To what extent do you agree or disagree with these statements?

It is true that the internet has an indispensable role to play in various facets of contemporary society. Some people harbor a belief that the Internet helps people keep in contact with each other without any limitation of physical geographic destinations, while others hold the reverse viewpoint. The writer of the essay is inclined to stand with the proponents, and the reasons are presented in the succeeding paragraphs. Online social media and platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, LINE, and many others, have a variety of positive influences on people nowadays. First, individuals only have to pay basic monthly fees for the Internet to enjoy the extreme convenience and up-to-minute information. A relevant example is that people can contact their friends who live in remote countries or cities with online phone calls rather than using international calls which have to pay the costly expenses. In addition, multi-functional social media provides various innovative functions. For instance, sending individuals’ photos and using stickers and emojis to communicate. It helps people interact with others become more interesting and vivid. More importantly, currently, dating applications have become more popular and common which is an emerging way to meet and new people who are from different life zones. Therefore, convenient Internet technology cannot isolate residents or confine them to broaden their social circles. Notwithstanding the former supporting notions, the drawbacks should not be neglected. For one thing, because the algorithm creates an ‘information comfort zone’ for citizens, it causes residents to hardly communicate with others taking opposing points of view. The researchers even coined the term ‘echo chamber effect’ to describe this current phenomenon. Besides the previous point, people often keep in touch by using social media platforms on cell phones. In fact, users are addicted to having conversations through such methods and this causes them to have difficulties socializing in real life because they gradually reduce opportunities to interact with others face-to-face. To sum up, there are few things in the world that do not have two sides, and this issue also has both pros and cons. However, based on the argument above, here the author reaffirms to stand with this statement that the Internet brings people more chances to socialize with new friends regardless of distances, time zones, and backgrounds since it also has become an inseparable part of most people's daily life.