Essay writing gap-fill exercise: Has new technology had a positive or negative influence on our lives?

Few people would [?] the fact that new technology has had an enormous influence on our lives in recent years. Personal computers, the Internet and mobile phones have changed the way we work, spend our leisure time and interact with each other. In my [?] the advantages far [?] any disadvantages.

In schools and workplaces around the world, computers have opened up the great store of human knowledge, usually at very little cost to the user. If you want to research a school assignment or a business opportunity, the Internet is your starting point.

At home, [?], we can use computers as a valuable source of information. [?] we are trying to decide where to go on holiday, which new washing machine to buy or where to go for dinner, the answers can be found without leaving the house.

The mobile phone has also revolutionized the way we organize our lives. Meeting up with friends, clients and colleagues can all be done more easily and efficiently. If you are going to be late for a meeting, want to make a last-minute change in your meeting arrangements or even if you get lost, help is in your pocket with your mobile.
Information technology can save lives and help us avoid danger too. If you slip and fall while hiking, you can use your phone to call the emergency services while parents can allow their children to go out secure in the knowledge that they can call them at any time.

Of course, not everyone is convinced of the benefits of technology. Some [?] that our communication skills will suffer. [?], I would argue that our communication skills are actually improving as people are communicating with more people and in a greater of variety of ways than previously. In the past, we spoke face-to-face, talked on the phone, or wrote letters. Today we still do all these things, but we also email each other, text each other, take part in chat conversations and contribute to Internet forums. If you are concerned that you are losing the ability to communicate face-to-face, then ask yourself a simple question: over the past twenty four hours, in what way have you communicated with other people the most? The answer will be, of course, through face-to-face conversation.

There can be no [?] that information technology is here to stay and will continue to transform our lives over the next few decades. [?] there may be some negative effects – health risks, environmental damage, and even longer working hours - the way forward is to find ways to make new technology work better for us, not reject it. History shows us that you can’t put the clock back.