IELTS Speaking – Trang web & Ứng dụng

Probably the weather app, believe it or not. I ride a motorbike to work, so I need to know whether to pack a raincoat before I leave. After that I'll glance at my messages, but I try not to scroll through social media in bed, because once I start, I lose twenty minutes without noticing.

Quite a lot, if I include work. I'm on my laptop for about eight hours on weekdays, and then probably another two hours on my phone in the evening. When I checked my screen-time report last month I was a bit shocked, so now I try to leave my phone in another room during dinner.

It depends on the task. For anything quick, like ordering food or checking my bank balance, an app is far more convenient. But if I'm doing something that needs concentration, such as filling in a long form or comparing prices, I much prefer a big screen and a proper keyboard, because it's easier to see everything at once.

Yes, a few times. I pay a monthly subscription for a music streaming service, which I think is well worth it because I listen to music every single day. I also once bought a language-learning app, but to be honest I stopped using it after a couple of weeks, so that was money down the drain.

The app I'd like to describe is a ride-hailing and delivery app that's extremely popular in Vietnam. I first heard about it around five years ago from a colleague who used it to get home after late shifts, and I downloaded it the same evening. These days I use it for all sorts of things. In the morning I often book a motorbike taxi if it's raining, at lunchtime I order food to the office, and sometimes I even use it to send documents across the city. It also has a wallet function, so I can pay without carrying cash, and it regularly offers discount codes, which is a nice bonus. The reason it's become part of my routine is simply that it saves me an enormous amount of time and hassle. Before, if I needed a taxi, I had to stand at the roadside and negotiate the price, which was stressful. Now I know the fare in advance and can track the driver on a map. That said, I'm aware that I might rely on it a little too much. There are weeks when I barely cook at all, so I've started setting myself a rule of ordering food no more than twice a week. Still, I genuinely can't imagine city life without it now.

Largely because apps are deliberately designed to be addictive. Features like endless scrolling, red notification badges and unpredictable rewards, such as a new like or message, trigger the same part of the brain as gambling. There's also a social element: people worry that if they don't reply quickly, they'll miss out or seem rude. So it isn't just a lack of willpower; it's a battle between individuals and some very clever engineering.

I think there need to be much stricter limits. Some data collection is reasonable, for example, a map app obviously needs your location. But many companies gather far more than they need and then sell it to advertisers, often without users really understanding what they've agreed to. Ideally, privacy settings should be clear and switched on by default, and firms that misuse data should face heavy fines, as they already do in some parts of Europe.

The change has been dramatic, especially in Vietnam. Ten years ago almost everything was paid for in cash, whereas now even street vendors display a QR code you can scan. Shopping apps have also made it possible to compare prices instantly and get things delivered within hours. The downside is that spending has become almost invisible, so it's much easier to make impulse purchases and lose track of how much money is actually leaving your account.

I believe websites will survive, although their role may shrink. Apps are great for services you use daily, but nobody wants to install a separate app just to read one article or check a restaurant's opening hours. Websites are also open to everyone and can be found through search engines, which is crucial for small businesses and public information. So I'd expect the two to coexist, with apps for routine tasks and websites for everything else.