IELTS Speaking for Success - 🖥 Computer programs and mobile apps (Part 3)

Episode Date: March 18, 2026

Get access to our episode archive: https://www.patreon.com/ieltssfs Do you think young people are more and more reliant on computer programs and apps? Should parents limit their children’s use of computer programs and computer games? Why and how could they do it if it is bad? What apps are popular in your country? Why those apps? Why do some people dislike using apps? What are the differences between old and young people when using apps? Tune in and have a great day! - Book a class with Rory here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://successwithielts.com/rory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our course on Phrasal Verbs: https://successwithielts.com/podcourses Transcript: https://linktr.ee/sfspremium Find an IELTS Speaking Partner: https://links.successwithielts.com/ieltspartner Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts © 2025 Podcourses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One plus one equals more of the greatest stories. Hulu on Disney Plus. Stories about... Survivors. The most dangerous planet. Family. Retribution. Murder.

Prophecy. Beer and propane. Bolly Dillard. Blake Pantha. The ultimate soldier. Chicago, all right? The best of the best stories now with even more from Hulu. Amazing.

Have it all with BYU on Disney Plus. Hello, dear listener and welcome into IELD speaking part three. We are talking about applications, apps. Rory here is super excited to talk about technology. For once. Because Rory has a smartphone. I do have a smartphone, yes. And different apps.

Don't ask me what brand it is, but it's a smartphone. Do you think young people are more and more reliant on computers? programs and apps. Well, they certainly have more access to them and seem more adept to using them, but I don't think it's just young people who need them. I mean, old people definitely benefit from using them. And if they don't, they frequently get young people to help them with that kind of thing. Should parents limit their children's use of computer programs and computer games? I really don't know. I mean, surely that depends on whether it's bad for them or not. And some kids, can just sit and play games with no repercussions.

So if that's the case, then I don't see the need. And why could it be a good idea to limit that time? I suppose if playing video games is limiting their opportunities to develop or have a happy and healthy life, then, well, they could just cut them off completely. And that might be a bit extreme and unsustainable, though. So maybe agreeing times when children can and cannot play them would be more practice. What apps are popular in your country? The usual ones, I think. People have a lot of social media apps on their phones that they can scroll through.

And things connected to work, like email and calendar planners seem just about ubiquitous. I think they even come with the phones these days. So you don't even need to download them. And why are these apps popular? I imagine because they're things people consider essential and they just can't live without these. days. Almost everyone has some kind of social media presence, especially younger people, or they might need to get in touch with their work or loved ones via different messenger apps. So it makes sense these would be the most popular ones. Why do some people dislike using apps?

Well, they can be pretty intrusive at times. Even if you turn off the sound on the notifications, you still sometimes get banner notifications at the top of your screen, notifying you of different things, or even telling you you've turned off the notifications and asking you to turn them back on, that could get annoying after a while. What are the differences between old and young people when using apps? Well, there could be a few. First of all, it might be about the type of apps being used. Older people probably want to have more work-related ones on their phones, whereas young people will have ones which are more about fun and games. They might also use them.

differently. I can see old people being more discerning about what they put on social media apps, while youngsters are probably a bit more carefree. What are the drawbacks of having too many apps? Just being overloaded with notifications and too distracted to actually enjoy life, I suppose. I think that's the first and foremost one. Another thing, like more practically or logistically speaking, maybe it would drain the battery on your phone faster than normal. When West Jet first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel.

While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when WestJet welcomes you on board. Here's to WestJetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at WestJet.com, 30 years. As you know, we now release all of our premium content for free, and it's available for one month. After one month, it goes into our super secret archive. To sign up for the archive, click the link in the description below.

See you soon. Thank you, Rory, for your answers. Radio listener. So, questions could be about apps, applications on your phone, popular, not popular. So if this topic is difficult for you, please do the research. Some Google, what apps are popular? And Google tells us that in 2025, 2006, the most popular apps globally all around the world are TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, and chat GPT. Hey, really?

Yeah, also video editing apps are really popular. globally all over the world, CapCut, for example, and different e-commerce apps, like banking apps, but they are kind of local. But, yeah, like everybody uses TikTok and Instagram, Facebook.

So, yeah, chat GPT has become one of the fastest growing apps all over the world. Also YouTube and Spotify, Netflix, and CapCat. Amazon app, but again, like, not everyone.

has an Amazon app, I think, but it's quite popular. Interesting, right? So, dear listener, you can talk about chat GPT. If you have this app, maybe you don't. I don't know, but yeah, you can make some examples like this and educate the examiner about what's popular and what's not. Yeah, actually, chat GPT was the most popular app in 2025. surpassing TikTok and Instagram, 770,000.

million downloads worldwide. It's insane. Maria's just flabbergasted. Yeah, I know. Like chat GPT surpassed TikTok and Instagram. Can you imagine? Uh-la-la. Yeah. So you can talk about AI apps, right, dear listener? Fast-growing apps with lots of active users, right? So chat GPT dominates the market. there we go. So we say that people are more and more reliant on different apps. So people rely on different apps, people depend on apps.

Reliant is a C2 word. Maybe the examiner doesn't use this word in the question, but you can use it, the listener. And you can say that people are completely reliant on different applications. So they need applications to live, to succeed, to work correctly. We are reliant on something. We depend on something. And young people have more access to different computer programs and apps.

They are more adept at using apps. So to be adept at using something means to have a natural ability to do something. And children, teenagers, they are natural at using technology, chat dbtee, you know, different apps, devices. So they are more adept at using social media than older people. Our classical literature is, should parents limit their children's use of computer games or computer programs or apps? And here you can say some kids just spend all the time. playing games with no repercussions.

Repercussions are like negative consequences. So there should be some repercussions, like effects that an action or event has on something, especially a bad effect. And usually we're talking about something bad. So something has serious repercussions. Repercussions. This is a strange word.

Rory, how'd you say it? It's very strange. repercussions? And could you give us a sentence about games, gaming and children? I suppose some of the repercussions of playing games too much might be withdrawing from social activities and maybe there are some negative health consequences or negative health outcomes like, I don't know, poor posture. You can start a sentence with ING. Playing games is bad, right?

or playing games doesn't help a child to develop. And if playing games limits children's opportunities to develop, parents should cut them off completely. So parents should not allow their children to play, cut somebody off. That means, like, remove all the games from children. So parents should cut them off. cut them off. Or if parents give money to children, so maybe in certain cases they should cut them off, like stop giving them any money. Or maybe they could do something more practical, but that just

means reasonable and you can actually do it. Usually cutting people off from playing video games or anything else doesn't really work so well. As for the popular apps, dear listener, in your country, again, as I've told you, TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, chat GPT, so that's popular everywhere, and which means that they are maybe the most popular ones in your country, but you can do some research and kind of find out, okay, the most popular apps in Thailand. And people have a lot of social media apps on their phones, so they scroll through Instagram all the time. That's very important, actually. I was just thinking about some problems that my students were having, and they often say the scroll Instagram, but you don't, you scroll through Instagram or scroll through your feed,

for example. Uh, where are my gloves? Come on, heat. Any day now? Winter is hard, but your groceries don't have to be. This winter, stay warm. Tap the banner to order your groceries online at voila.ca. Enjoy in-store prices without leaving your home.

You'll find the same regular prices online as in-store. Many promotions are available both in store and online, though some may vary. You don't need AI agents, which may sound weird coming from service now, the leader in AI agents. The truth is, AI agents need you. Sure, they'll process, predict, even get work done autonomously. But they don't dream, read a room, rally a team, and they certainly don't have shower thoughts, pivotal hallway chats, or big ideas. People do. And people, when given the best AI platform, they're freed up to do the fulfilling work they want to do.

To see how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people, visit ServiceNow.com. Another good adjective to use is ubiquitous. Oh, but that sounds complicated. But it just means it's something that's everywhere and always present. Yeah, if something is ubiquitous, it's everywhere. Like social media apps are ubiquitous. The ubiquitous spread of English. So English as is everywhere.

And such apps are popular because, they are essential. People consider them essential, like super important for their life. Because people need them to get in touch with their work or friends. And we say that we write to people, we contact people via different messenger apps, like WhatsApp, Telegram, are messenger apps. Or we wrote to people on messenger apps when we're using them. Because it's the internet, on the internet. Always on. Never in the internet.

Some people dislike using apps. Some people dislike traveling. They dislike drinking water, breathing, you know. Some people dislike breathing. Why do I have to do this all the time? Why do you have such a grudge against people that don't like social media apps? No, no, I'm just saying that some people dislike many things. And you can mention notification.

So they can be pretty intrusive, right? So getting all these irritating, annoying notifications, but oh, you have a message? So they could be pretty intrusive. So they interfere into your life. You get distracted. You lose your focus. Of course, you have to respond to everyone at once. When something affects you in a way that annoys you, makes you feel. feel uncomfortable. For example, you can have intrusive thoughts. Like all these thoughts you have in your head, dear listener, non-stop all the time, so they are intrusive thoughts. We can turn off notifications, but still, you sometimes get banners. You get a notification telling you that you turned off notifications. Yeah, it could be annoying, having all the messages and you have to answer. And people expect you to answer. So write away because you have nothing else to do, right? You're not busy, no.

You just like, they write to you and you have to answer back right away. If you don't, then, yeah, well, they might be offended. Young people use different apps from old people. So for young people, it's like chat GPT, social apps. For older people, it might be, I don't know, banking, weather-focused apps. Or they usually don't use any apps. like telegram, maybe some messengers, right, to chat with their family. They might use the call app.

You're right, okay. If they're feeling really wild. Yeah, but usually just, you know, like email app, like Gmail, for example. Or maybe a taxi. Yeah, a taxi. An app for a taxi. There we go. Yeah, but that's it.

So we can be different in how we use things as well as what we use. Yeah, and all the people want to have more work-related apps on their phone. while young people prefer entertainment, games, fun. Yeah, game apps, right? Because we don't play games on our phones, dear listener. We are old with Rory, so we're busy, so sorry if we don't name any game apps. We're boring, they're listener, you know. We don't play games on our phones.

Well, that's true. We don't play games on our phones. I think the closest I get is check. Yes, and that's about it. Oh, you play chess on your phone. Look at you. Educated to worry. Wow, nice.

It's not. I'm just bored and I couldn't find anything else. Young people or youngsters, they're listening. I'm going to have children, youngsters, young people, teenagers. Younger people, you're older people. And youngsters are more carefree. So they don't care. They're carefree.

Games and TikTok. Rorya, what about TikTok? Do you watch TikTok? Not really, no. I know we're on TikTok, but I don't really pay attention to TikTok, unfortunately. And could you, could you ask me about the TikTok? Maria, do you watch TikTok or do you go on TikTok? I don't have TikTok on my phone. There you go, dear listen, and now you know one person in your life who doesn't have any TikTok app on their phone. Yeah, that's me.

I'm TikTok free. and Rory is on TikTok No, I'm not on TikTok But we are We have a joint account on TikTok Right, you're listening How are you doing? Are you fine? Are you okay? Are you happy? Are you hungry?

Are you bored to death? Are you nervous about the test? Don't be nervous. It's just a test. You know, you just speak English. Smile, be friendly to the examiner And do you remember our secret strategy You make a joke And then you laugh in a stupid way

That's Maria's secret strategy. Mine is a little bit different. This makes the examiner happy. The examiner starts laughing because of your stupid laughter. Oh, yeah, okay. Thank you very much for listening. And I'll see you next time. Bye.

Okay, when I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice. I want to help my kids, and I want to give back to the community. Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime. I wonder if my out of office has a forever setting. An IG Private Wealth Advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business, your family, and your dreams. Get financial advice that puts you at the center. Find your advisor at IGPrivatewealth.com.

Do you think young people are more and more reliant on computer programs and apps? Well, they certainly have more access to them and seem more adept at using them, but I don't think it's just young people who need them. I mean, old people definitely benefit from using them, and if they don't, they frequently get young people to help them with that kind of thing. Should parents limit their children's use of computer programs and computer games? I really don't know. I mean, surely that depends on whether it's bad for them or not.

And some kids can just sit and play games. with no repercussions, so if that's the case, then I don't see the need. And why could it be a good idea to limit that time? I suppose if playing video games is limiting their opportunities to develop or have a happy and healthy life, then, well, they could just cut them off completely. And that might be a bit extreme and unsustainable, though. So maybe agreeing times when children can and cannot play them would be more practical. What apps are popular in your country?

Well, the usual ones, I think. People have a lot of social media apps on their phones that they can scroll through. And things connected to work, like email and calendar planners, seem just about ubiquitous. I think they even come with the phones these days. So you don't even need to download them. And why are these apps popular? I imagine because they're things people consider essential and they just can't live without these days. almost everyone has some kind of social media presence,

especially younger people, or they might need to get in touch with their work or loved ones via different messenger apps. So it makes sense these would be the most popular ones. Why do some people dislike using apps? Well, they can be pretty intrusive at times. Even if you turn off the sound on the notifications, you still sometimes get banner notifications

at the top of your screen, notifying you of different things, or even telling you you've turned off the notifications and asking you to turn them back on, that could get annoying after a while. What are the differences between old and young people when using apps? Well, there could be a few.

First of all, it might be about the type of apps being used. Older people probably want to have more work-related ones on their phones, whereas young people will have ones which are more about fun and games. They might also use them differently. I can see old people being more discerning about what they put on social media apps, while youngsters are probably a bit more carefree. What are the drawbacks of having too many apps? Just being overloaded with notifications and too distracted to actually enjoy life, I suppose.

I think that's the first and foremost one. Another thing, like more practically or logistically speaking, maybe it would drain the battery on your phone faster than normal?