Nowadays Most Information Is Available Online, Whereas In The Past Knowledge Used To Be Stored In Books And On Paper | Band 8 IELTS Essay Sample

Nowadays most information is available online, whereas in the past knowledge used to be stored in books and on paper. Do you think the advantages of this situation outweigh the disadvantages?

Here is a band 8 IELTS essay on this topic written by one of our students. Need help with IELTS writing? Get your IELTS essays, letters and reports corrected by me.

Band 8 IELTS essay sample

Nowadays the internet has become the primary source of information, and evidently, paper books are being replaced by e-books. While excessive dependence on digital sources of information can cause eye strain, in my opinion, the benefits of this development exceed the downsides because the internet is eco-friendly and provides instant access to data.

On the one hand, the internet usage has been increasing over the last few decades. Most of the jobs require sitting behind computer screens for a long time. If individuals spend extra time using computers for their research, they can face eye problems. Another disadvantage is that some of the information available online is not reliable. Anybody can post anything online. This is not the case with books or newspapers. On top of that, in some cases, the published date of the documents which are available online is not clear, and this might cause confusion for readers.

On the other hand, online information is accessible anytime and anywhere if internet connectivity is available. This will make it more convenient for the users. Moreover, individuals can access the required information in a fraction of seconds. To illustrate, by typing a keyword on the search engines, people can find thousands of sites related to the topic which they are looking for. In addition, storing the information online rather than printing them on paper will help to preserve the environment. To illustrate, every year plenty of trees are cut down to produce paper, and this will lead to deforestation. However, having an online database will help us to have a more sustainable environment.

In conclusion, while it is true that there are some drawbacks to storing data online, in my opinion, the benefits of this practice are way more pronounced and can protect the forests and save the time spent on researching.

Manjusha Nambiar

Hi, I'm Manjusha. This is my blog where I give IELTS preparation tips.