Nowadays, many people spend their free time watching movies. Why do they do that? Is it a positive or negative development?
Here is a band 9 IELTS essay on this topic.
Band 9 essay sample
These days, it is quite common for people to spend much of their free time watching films. This could be due to easy access to movie streaming apps. In my opinion, this is not exactly a positive development.
People are watching more movies today because movies are now available on their phones. Consequently, they can watch them even when they are on the go. The advent of the internet and mobile phones significantly changed the way people spend their free time. These days, whenever they get free time, people turn to their mobile phone which allows them to spend time on social media or watch movies on an application like Youtube or Netflix. Earlier, movies could only be watched in a cinema or on the television. This limited people’s access to them. Nowadays, they can carry movies on a handheld device like a mobile phone and hence they can watch them whenever they get time.
In my opinion, it is not exactly beneficial for people to spend much of their free time watching movies. Movies merely provide entertainment. Earlier while commuting to work on a bus or a train, people would either read a book or talk to the person sitting next to them. Both activities benefitted them in several ways. Reading, for example, enhanced their knowledge. Interacting with others improved their social skills and fostered in them a sense of community. Nowadays, everybody is glued to their mobile device and do not even bother to look at the person sitting next to them. Watching too many movies is also bad for people’s health. Sitting for hours on end staring at a small screen leads to various health problems such as obesity, hypertension and poor eyesight.
In short, movies are now available on mobile devices and that is the main reason people are spending more time watching them. In my opinion, it is a negative development because movies only provide entertainment. They do not enhance people’s knowledge. Nor do they benefit people’s health.
Analysis
This is a good essay. The writer has answered both questions in the task rubric. The writer’s arguments are convincing. In the introduction, the writer rephrased the primary statement in the task rubric and briefly answered both questions. In the first body paragraph, the writer explained why people are spending much of their free time watching movies. In the second body paragraph, the writer explained why this is a negative development with valid arguments. The main points are restated in the conclusion.
The writer has used a range of grammatical structures and vocabulary.
Score: Band 9
Task response: 9
Coherence and cohesion: 9
Grammatical range: 9
Lexical resources: 9
