Oral anglais space and exchanges

Anglais

Spaces and exchanges

The notion I am going to deal with is about « spaces and exchanges », which deals with the geographical and symbolic areas that all societies occupy and the interactions between men and different societies. Our world is built on the exploration and conquest of new spaces. The different cultural, economic, sociological and language interactions have shaped an characterised our modern-day world. To illustrate this notion, we must look at the internet, wich has taken a considerable place in all homes in just a few years. So we may wonder just what influence does the internet or web has on today's society ?

First, we are going to show that the Web has deeply changed our society, has empowered the citizens accross the globe, .. and then we are going to talk about the negative aspect of the web.

I -

The internet  and new technologies empowored the citizens.Indeed we can see it in the document « The fifth power » where the author speak about Steve Jobs,  the creator of the Iphone, who believes that new technologies are wonderful things because technologies  can change the way we live. We can also speaks about the document « empowered citizen », which shows how a person can become a reporter using technologies, and I think this can be useful, because if we record a major event we can help someone, such as  the police. Or as in the document « Flash Mob », the Web can help to organize event like flash mob or flash looting.Let's also add the document « The power of Google » it speaks about Google, the internet search engine, it is used by the worldwide butGoogle is accused by competitors of giving preference to his website, This is an example of influence because as Google is use everywhere, it influences everyone  into preferring  one site over another ; on one hand it's a good things because it can protect users from certain potentially dangerous sites, but on the other hand it means that it is not transparent and has an influence on the consumers.

We can also speak about non governmental organisation such as Wikileaks, who publish sensitive document to informe people about action of government.In the document « we are 99% » we see that the group « Occupy Wall Street Movement » protest because they comprise 99% of Americans who have nothing while de 1% have everything.

II -

But the Web isn't always a good thing.Indeed it can destroy people because of rumors which circulate very quickly and it can be a source of inequality and scams. For example in « MOOCs »  a new way to learn is discuss : online education.. on surface it seems  good but,  it limits access to only those who can afford internet,who speak english and who can  afford to pay for education, it's really expansive, and enlarges the inequalities between the poor and the rich.

We can also speak about cyberbullying, which for me is a serious problem.There are too many on internet who harass others because it is really easy to remain anonymous

and post what you want. Though it happens online and in the litteral sense is not real, the effects are. Many people commit suicide due to cyberbullying, making it a major scourge on all internet users.

To sum up, in my mind, the Web is a really useful tool that helps in everyday life, facilitating tasks and allowing us to learn, but it can also very easily become dangerous because of the freedom of expression. This allows people to post false information, which can be a nigthmare for those dealing with harrasment.

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