#008: By Erin (and copied on many web sites)

[Erin]

Hey, guys!! Here's an essay that I wrote about topic #008. This topic is the one that asks you to talk about whether television has harmed communication.

 

This is kind of a hard topic to write about (at least it's not one of the easiest ones), so I thought it'd be helpful to post this one.

 

The writing style is fairly advanced, probably more advanced than you really need for the TOEFL, but I know that some of you out there will appreciate it.

 

Here's the essay:

 

Television is undoubtedly one of the most powerful means of communication in the history of humankind, rivaled only by such other forms of communication as the Internet, the telephone, movies, and, of course, simple, low-tech speech. Television, with its wide availability and rich media with image and sound, is difficult to ignore and even seductive in its appeal. Television is as much a part of our lives as are our meals, work, or school; studies consistently show that the average American child spends almost as much time watching television as she does in school. Furthermore, because television is so rich in its media, it often requires our full attention or is more attraction to us than are our daily lives.

 

Naturally, the more time one spends watching television, the less time she has with her family and friends. Thus, we can clearly see why some have claimed that television has been harmful for communication among family and friends. However, I believe that, while television has been somewhat harmful in its effects, it has hardly "destroyed" communication among family and friends for most people, although for some, this may be true.

 

Most people much prefer spending time with their families and friends to spending time watching television. Television is of course an important part of many people's lives, but most people would gladly choose family and friends over television were they given the choice. Furthermore, most educated people are aware of the deleterious effects of too much television and either avoid excessive time watching television, or actually do not enjoy it. I, for example, after a long day at work, would much rather spend time talking with my wife and playing with my children than I would watching some unrealistic portrayal of life on television. For me and my family, our time together is precious and beautiful, and could never be replaced or hurt by television.

 

Furthermore, the effect of television is simply not so great that it could be said to have "destroyed" communication among family and friends. Granting that communication among family and friends in industrialized countries has decreased in recent years, it might be tempting to blame this problem on television since its rise roughly coincided with the decrease in time we spend with our families. However, I believe this situation is more likely due to increased pressures relating from work, school, and the economy. In my case, for example, I find that my pressures from work are so great that I must often sacrifice time at home so that I can meet the challenges of running my own business. Many of my friends are in similar situations--my best friend, for example, has just finished law school, which took about sixty hours a week of his time. In a word, people nowadays have very little time for anything, but television is not the cause--it is increased desire to succeed.

 

In some situations, however, television has surely contributed to a decrease in communication among family members. In my childhood in the countryside, I often saw parents and children watching television for hours on end, rarely speaking with one another. It seemed for them that television was a way to escape from their sad, miserable existence. However, even in this case, I would say that television merely contributed to the bad situation, but did not cause it; were television not existent, surely these people would have found other escapes, alcohol or gambling, for example. In other words, people always find a way to do what they want to do.

 

In short, I do not believe that television has destroyed or even harmed interpersonal communication among most people. Most people realize that television is merely a temporary diversion and do not use it to replace interpersonal communication. I believe that the damage attributed to television is greatly exaggerated and that such damage is most likely attributable to other more powerful social factors.

[chennai102]

Toefl.org has mentioned about 150 essay topics. When i write the test will i get a topic only from what toefl.org has given or will i get something new? Is there any place onthe net where there are a very large no of sample essays covering most topics given by toefl.org ?

 

 

 

[Erin]

Hi,

 

There are 185 topics right now. How many did you see on TestMagic? We have a lot, close to 100. Did you go to:

 

http://TestMagic.com/Knowledge_Base/TOEFL/Writing/samples/

 

and

 

http://www.TestMagic.com/test/Login.asp

 

Check that out!! There's loads of stuff on those two pages!!

 

Erin :D

 

Erin Billy

TestMagic.com

San Francisco, CA USA

[pallaco]

The televison is one of the most important inventions in the last few years with it, we can be informed about what is happening in the rest of the world or more important in our very hometown. However, everything in excess is bad, if we saw television all day it will probably afect the comunication with our familiy or friends, but if we saw it a few hours a day it might do not affect at all.

 

In my familiy, seeing television do not affect anything the comunication with them, in fact seen it makes the comunication stronger. A few months ago Televisa, a telvision producer, transmited a reality show quite entretening that makes the whole family join together to saw the show, and while it was transmited we where expresing our oppinion about it. That hours in which we where seeing the reality show was the most amezing hours of the week, because we where all together sharing our time with each other.

 

A similar thing happen with my friends, we saw a television show the day before school and the next day we talk about it. Sometimes we only discuss about one show, like the funny things that happened if its a comedy show, or maybe we can critizace a realty show. I am not saying that we talk about the television show all the time but surely about an hour or more.

 

In conlusion, a disagree about that the television has destroyed communication among friends and familiy. Maybe it has distroyed a culture communication because instead of talk about books or art movies we are talking about realty or comedy shows. In my opinion television can make the communication with friends and family stronger if they have the same interests and saw the same television shows.

 

[nu_nam2001]

Hello pallaco, welcome to TM..[tm]

 

The televison is one of the most important inventions in the last few years. wWith it, we can be informed about of what is happening in the rest of the world or more importantly in our very hometown. However, everything in excess is bad, if we sawsee television all day it will probably afect the comunication with our familiyfamily or friends, but if we sawsee it a few hours a day it might do not affect at all. (confused!!!)

 

In my familiyfamily, seeingwatching television does not affect anything the comunication with them, in fact seenwatching it makes the comunication stronger. A few months ago Televisa, a telvision producer, transmited a reality show quite entretening?? that makes the whole family join together to sawsee the show, and while it was transmited we where expresing expressed our oppinion about it. That hours in which we where seeing watched the reality show was the most amezing hours of the week, because we where (what do you want to mean here? why did you use "where" a lot??)all together sharing our time with each other.

 

A similar thing happen with my friends, we saw a television show the day before school and the next day we talked about it. Sometimes we only discuss about one show, like the funny things that happened if itsit is a comedy show, or maybe we can critizace a realty show. I am not saying that we talk about the television show all the time but surely about an hour or more.

 

In conlusion, aI disagree about that the television has destroyed communication among friends and familiy. Maybe it has distroyed a culture communication because instead of talking about books or art movies we are talking about realty reality or comedy shows. In my opinion television can make the communication with friends and family stronger if they have the same interests and sawwatch the same television shows.

 

Okay,pallaco.. Be a bit more careful about your gramma. I think we should use "watch TV" more than "see TV". Be careful about tense too.

[pallaco]

thank you na num2001 for your comments!! are very helpful!!! a wrote where instead of were thats why it was so difficult to undestand it. but really thanks you very much for your corrections.

[iuli]

Originally posted by TestMagic

 

Hey, guys!! Here's an essay that I wrote about topic #008. This topic is the one that asks you to talk about whether television has destroyed communication.

Please check this essay... Thank you very much!

 

How many times do we find ourselves in front of the TV arguing about who gets the remote control? This is a familiar picture for many of us. I consider that this is the first sign of stress that we all experience when we spend time with our friends or family watching different TV programs. I consider that it is up to us if we let television dominate our social lives, and I also think that the worse thing that we can achieve by watching to much TV is to damage the relations we have with our friends and family.

 

If a person has a strong will and cares a great deal about his friends and family, will never let any TV program come between them. We all have our own favorite TV program and I saw people that for example disconnect the telephone while they are watching it, regardless of the fact that a friend might be in need to communicate with them. Therefore, I consider that it is up to us if we let the television interfere between our friends or family and us; it comes down to how much we really care about them.

 

 

Friendships can alter due to some arguments that a television program has inspired. I have two good friends that are very involved in politics and very stubborn. They used to watch different kind of political talk shows and then argue about the subjects. Once they argued so much that they forgot there are friends and they stopped talking to each other for two weeks.

Therefore, the television has a share in altering a relationship but the personalities of the people involved do too.

 

 

Communication between us and friends or family is not something that we must overlook for the pleasure of spending time watching our favorite TV program. It is true sometimes we are lazy and take for granted many things, still watching TV is not a good enough reason to neglect our dear ones.

 

 

[Elijah]

this is my first post here, comments are welcome.

:)

 

Television is one of the most important inventions throughout the human history. It can inform us the latest news through the globe, our show us the most moving story. Thus, it's completely reasonable to say, the invention has greatly changed people's life. Consequently, with more time being spent on television, less is for, and thus impairs the communication between the families and friends. However, I think it's exaggerated to say television has destroyed the necessary exchange of emotion and feeling.

 

Admittedly, nowadays people spent less time to communicate and share the ideas or memory with the family. I still clearly remember the times when we were only six or seven years old, and there were not so many wonderful and attractive programs on TV. Every night, after finishing the homework, the whole family used to come and sit together around the table, play word puzzles, learn songs from mum, ancient poems from father or go out and play with little friends in the resident yard. By contraries, a recent investigation shows that, these days more than 60% of the children spent their spare time in front of TV. Not only the children, but also the parents do this. Some families even go further that buy two or three televisions to satisfy the various taste of the three members and avoid the unnecessary dispute for the program. Naturally, they spent more time passively absorbing some empty plot that just designed to attract their eyes, and lose the realistic and emotional word full of happy and harmony around themselves.

 

However, impairment is not equal to complete damage. With the high-tech invention, it's also no longer necessary to spend half a day on the way to visit friend, just by dialing his or her tel. number can his/her voice come. Internet has made chatting in home possible not only with the familiar friends or classmates, but even a stranger you haven't seen before and come from the other side of the earth. Mobile phone has linked each person in reality. Communication has developed and becomes much more efficiency. Besides, more and more people now began to realize the harm of the excessive TV watching. Under their guide and appealing, more and more children and adults are coming out of the house. Teenagers go hiking together with friends, adults take the usage of the open sports facilities in the city, and the old amble around the parks near home with their little pets.

 

Although the television is taking a great part in our lives, it doesn't occupy the whole. The opinion that television has destroyed the communication is somewhat exaggerated. However, it also does some good to remind us not to spend too much time on it, anyhow, we are not segregated from the others in our realistic world.

 

[DaCastle]

Television is said to be one of the most convenient devices the 20th Century brought to us. Some even say it gives us better communication than before, because, through televison, they can receive a variety of information about what is happening around the world. In my opinion, however, I agree that televison has destroyed communication among people, especially among friends and family members.

 

 

First, televison has stolen away the rare chance of communication among family. In the past, when a family gathered and relaxed, members used to spend talking with each other about things, from personal to family matters. Nowadays, as the society becomes more complicated, making people busy with their own matters, they still gather around in one place, but they pass the precious time just watching televison without communicating.

 

Second, deeper, more personal communication can hardly be carried out. Especially among young age groups, the biggest conceren they are interested in is mostly about what they see on televison and what they think about it. Sadly enough, the time otherwise spent talking about real life, real people, and real ways of living have long been replaced by that which they spend only talking about the fads they see on televison.

 

 

Surely, as I have mentioned thus far, the lack of both chances to talk together and subjects to talk about has resulted from watching televison. Therefore, I agree that televison has destroyed communication among friends and family.

 

 

[ccube]

Can you comment on my essay?

 

Although television has provided us much information, such as daily news and events, it has destroyed communication among friends or family members. There are three three side effects of watching television, they are shortening normal communication, hindering constructive discussion, and affecting nomral activities among friends and family members.

 

Firstly, television eliminates some of our normal communcation with our family. Many people watch television when they are having dinner; some children are not willing to talk with their parents when they are watching cartoons after school. Nonetheless, these periods are one of the most suitable time for family to share their experience.

 

Secondly, friends often discuss television programs with each other. They would rather use much time to share the comments on television programs than discuss other social events. Who are willing to stop telling the funny ending of Friends and start discussing the homework assignment? Many constructive discussions are affected by television.

 

Finally, as watching some television programs are more interesting, people sometimes postpone or cancel their normal activities. There are a lot of people will cancel their meeting for the NBA or NCAA finals; some of us will postpone a family dinner for the last tens minutes of X-files. As sticking to some television programs, some people will re-schedule their social activities.

 

In short, television destroyed many communcation by occupying times of family conversations, hindering some postive discussions, and affecting our social activities schedule. Without television, we would probably share and discuss more with our friends and family.