Practice English Listening B2 Exercises – Sociology: Radio commentary on the Internet and relationships

A

___ The Internet encourages more frequent contact with friends and family than the phone.

___ Families often use the Internet to address serious matters.

_✓_ People who are disabled or housebound can develop cyber relationships and feel less isolated.

_✓_ People cannot really get to know someone online.

___ Children can be put in dangerous situations as a result of online activity.

_✓_ Excessive use of the Internet can have negative effects.

___ People are less polite online.

_✓_ The Internet can help us build relationships, but it can also lead to isolation.

B

Answers will vary.

1   The Internet can make it easier to stay in contact with friends and family.

2   They can form cyber friendships with other disabled and housebound people without leaving their homes.

3   You can meet people and learn about them before you agree to actually spend time with them in person.

4   People may lie about themselves online. It is difficult to really know if someone is misrepresenting themselves online.

5   Keep the computer in a communal part of the home

6   Because the people you are communicating with don’t really know you.

A = Host, B = Dr. Garcia

A:   Hello and welcome to another edition of Viewpoints. Today we’re going to talk about the Internet and how it affects our social lives. We’ll attempt to ask the question: does the Internet Build Relationships or does it Encourage Isolation? Our guest today is Dr. Rafael Garcia, a sociologist from the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Garcia, thank you for joining us.

B:   Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here.

A:   So how would you answer that question? Is the Internet helping us build relationships, or is it causing us to be more isolated from others.

B:   Well, the answer is not a simple one. The fact is that the Internet can help us build relationships, but it can make us more isolated, too. Let me explain. In many ways, the Internet actually encourages relationships among friends and family members. In several recent studies, for instance, Internet users reported that they kept in touch with siblings and other relatives several times a week and felt email allowed them to keep in touch with family more than contact by phone.

Several people also said that because of the Internet, they were able to locate family members with whom they had lost contact for many years just by using certain Websites to search for them.

A:   Interesting. So, for these people, not only did the Internet help them stay in touch, but it helped them re-connect with people they hadn’t spoken with in a long time.

B:   Right, but there’s a negative side, too. Although these Internet users reported that they corresponded more often with family members, the content of this correspondence tended to be pretty superficial. They were forwarding each other jokes via email, or just instant messaging short notes back and forth. So, while they were maintaining contact, they weren’t really discussing important topics or getting to know each other better. In other words, their relationships weren’t really growing stronger or closer. A few families did report that they used email to address serious matters, but they were the exceptions.

A:   I see. So the Internet can be both helpful and harmful to our relationships.

B:   Exactly.

A:   Now what role do you think the Internet plays in the relationships and lives of people who are disabled or who can’t leave their homes easily. It would seem that the Web would be a great relationship-building tool for them.

B:   Absolutely. For disabled people, or people who are very ill, Internet access allows them to develop relationships online-what we call cyber relationships. Basically, it encourages community development and allows these people to feel much less isolated. This was shown is another recent study. According to that study, disabled people felt less lonely and that they were able to form good cyber relationships without dealing with the real life problems of transportation and time constraints. They were able to be in contact with people in similar conditions and share support resources.

A:   That’s great.

B:   Yes, it is. Now I think I should state one important drawback to Internet-based relationships. We have to remember that while we can use email, instant messaging, chat rooms, and other forms of technology, the fact is that we can never really get to know someone very well online. What I mean is that there are limits to how much you can really learn about someone when you’re only communicating through a computer. Here’s an example: Internet dating has become pretty popular these days. It’s a very big business. On the one hand, many single people have the chance to ‘meet’ people online, get to know them via email and messaging, before actually meeting face to face. We’ve heard stories of people finding their futures husbands or wives on line and that’s all great.

However, the obvious drawback to this is that there have been many cases of people misrepresenting themselves to the people they communicate with. In other words, they have not told the truth about who they are, what they do, what they believe and what they look like. Therefore, when they finally meet in person, the person who has been communicating in good faith is in for a shock.

A:   So what you’re saying is that the Internet makes it easy for people to lie about themselves, and it makes it difficult-or impossible-to really know if someone is who they say they are.

B:   That’s right. And that’s why the Internet can be especially dangerous for children or minors. There have been many instances of grown adults posing as teenagers to trick young people into meeting them face-to-face. Unfortunately, this type of behavior has become very prevalent. But even though it’s a common danger, parents can still take certain steps to protect their kids.

I recommend that parents keep the family computer in a communal area of the home, like the living room or the family room, so that they can monitor which websites their children are visiting and ask questions about who their kids may be chatting with. It’s important for parents to keep an eye on their children in this way.

A:   One last question. Are there any other ways that the Internet can have negative effects on our relationships?

B:   Yes, there are. Several studies have shown that people who use the Internet excessively may suffer many negative effects both personally and in their social lives. For one, they may be letting their other “real-life” relationships suffer. In one of these studies, people reported that they didn’t spend as much time with their friends and family as they used to and had more feelings of loneliness if they spent long periods of time online. These people also stated they had less time for activities that they used to do on a regular basis. Basically, they had less time for real-life activities because they were spending too much time in front of their computer screens.

Additionally, the kinds of relationships these people established online were not as deep or as strong as their relationships in real life. In an online relationship, if you don’t like the direction the communication is going, you can simply log off. In real life, you have to deal with people you may not always get along with. In other words, it may be easier to form relationships online: You can be less polite, less sensitive, and if you don’t like the way the relationship is developing, you can just log off or stop returning someone’s email.

But, while the Internet might make things easier, it doesn’t help you develop the kinds of social skills that make it possible for you to develop strong, long-lasting friendships.

So I’d say, be careful of spending excessive amounts of time online. Cyber relationships can never take the place of real face-to-face communication.

A:   Thanks again, Dr. Garcia.