IELTS Speaking for Success - 🔗 Friendship and social relationships (Part 3) + Transcript

Episode Date: August 3, 2026

Get access to our episode archive: https://successwithielts.com/ Is technology a 'double-edged sword' for our friendships? Rory explains why keeping in touch has gotten both easier and less valuable, and how to discuss these complex changes for a high band score. 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://successwithielts.com/ 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

This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. Hello, hello, dear listener, and welcome into ILD speaking about three childhood friends in general.

Rory, are you excited about this topic? Yeah, it's fun to talk about when you were younger, isn't it? Why do people keep in touch with their friends from childhood? I imagine because they like their company and want to keep good people in their lives. there might also be some kind of sense of obligation as well, maybe. Could you explain it further? Yeah, you might have grown apart in terms of your interests or other things you once had in common,

but you might stay in contact just to keep the peace or maybe you don't want to rock the boat by cutting them loose. How important is childhood friendship to children? It's indispensable, I'd say. Children benefit a great deal psychologically from it and, well, probably physiologically too, since they have people they can have a good time with and learn from and they can go out and grow up together.

And what evidence do you have for that? Well, I can't see any other reason why children might seek each other out. Can you? You can't just be a self-contained unit your entire life. There has to be some connection to give life meaning or at least keep things interesting or help keep them interesting. Do you think online social media will replace face-to-face communication? It might for some very isolated people like of Heikomori in Japan. They've been so

socially isolated that it's pretty much all they have. And it could be beneficial if some people really struggle, but I doubt it will completely replace seeing people in person for the vast majority. We seem to have almost evolved to seek it out and take comfort from that. So I don't think that will change any time soon. What's the difference between having younger friends and older friends? Well, that probably depends on your own character, I'd imagine, but very broadly speaking, older friends would probably give more guidance and be more grounded, while you might find yourself being, or at least in the role,

or more of an older sibling role for your younger friends. That's assuming people behave in ways typical for their age, of course. The opposite could also be true. Has that always been true? Oh, definitely. People have always shown they're wildly different to each other in lots of different ways. How has technology changed people's friendships? Well, in some ways it strengthened them, because you can touch base with people all over the world at like a touch of a button these days. So you don't have to wait ages for a reply.

In other ways, though, it might have weakened them because something so readily available has less. value for many people. So they might not appreciate what they have as much as when things were a bit slower and less instantaneous. Do you think that will also be true in the future? That's the nature of technology, really. It's almost been a bit of a double-edged sword. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations,

more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. 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. So people keep in touch with somebody. They stay in contact with somebody. Keep in touch with.

Usually we keep in touch with our friends. So people keep in touch with their childhood friends because blah blah and blah. Because they keep good people in their lives. because they like their company. This means that I enjoy being around them. I enjoy being with them. And you can say that people enjoy being with somebody who they have a lot of things in common.

So people have a lot of things in common. They have common interests, common, I don't know, stories, common past, common traumas, emotional trauma, emotional traumas. And if we talk about the people, they have them in common with extra preposition, each other. Because people have a lot of things in common with their childhood friends. So they stay in contact.

People stay in contact with their childhood friends because blah, blah, blah. For positive reasons, hopefully, but they might do it because they have a sense of obligation. But that just means they feel like they must do something or they have to do it just because someone says or makes them feel that way. Oh, that's true. Yeah. Kind of like we talk to our relatives. Sometimes because of this sense of obligation,

sense of like duty. Even if we don't like them? Even if we don't like them exactly because they're family. So we have to do it, you know, like as a duty. There might be some kind of obligation. Like we have to do it. And Rory, what did you mean when you say that, people don't want to rock the boat.

Oh, that just means they don't want to create social tension. So you might rock the boat by doing something that's not normal or by saying something unexpected that people don't like. By doing that, you are rocking the boat. Exactly. So if you cause problems, if you tell people something that they don't like, something that might upset them, might make them sad, you rock the boat. It's an idiom, informal, C2, Band 9.

So, for example, during the negotiations, don't rock the boat. So kind of like, don't cause any problems, make everyone happy. After the negotiations, you can do it. Don't rock the boat. So instead of saying goodbye to childhood, Friends, some people prefer not to rock the boat and keep communicating with them. And if you don't communicate, you might cut them loose. Cut them loose means just to cut off contact or stop contact.

So some people prefer not to cut them loose or cut somebody loose to stop talking to them. Childhood friendship is important. It's indispensable. Well, you can't do without it or you can't remove it. It is so good, it is so important, you can't manage without it. Indispensable is also C2, Ben 9. And here, you can use it very easily. So how important is blah, blah, blah, and you say, oh, it's indispensable. Indispensable.

Repeat it. Indispensable. You can't live without it. like how important are phones they're indispensable how important are computers they are indispensable Rory how important is Wi-Fi it's well for us it's indispensable absolutely must have the Wi-Fi yeah we can just survive like five minutes without Wi-Fi we are just getting anxious so children grow up together with their friends they learn from their friends, and psychologically, they benefit a lot from their childhood friendship.

They benefit from, get benefits from something or somebody. Children seek each other out. That means they find each other, though, or they try to find each other. Online social media, like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, could replace face-to-face communication. So we say face-to-face communication, face-to-face interaction, which means you talk to people face-to-face offline. And we can mention isolated people. So some people are isolated. They are alone on an island without any Wi-Fi.

Isolated. Like they are not near other places. An isolated village, a village far away from everything else. or isolated people existing separately. Also, actually, I see one, see two word, isolated. Socially isolated people as well. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows.

Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result, less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandums that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. At Desjardin Insurance, we know that when you own a nail salon, everything needs to be perfect from tip to toe. That's why our agents go the extra mile to understand your business and provide tailored solutions for all its unique needs. You put your heart into your company, so we put our heart into making sure it's protection.

get insurance that's really big on care find an agent today at dejerdin.com slash business coverage so Rory gave us an example about Japan for some isolated people like in Japan there are some islands in Japan which seem to be isolated so some people are socially isolated they are like far from other people I should say I'm grossly oversimplifying the case because I'm not a a social psychologist, so I don't know much about this, but I have heard there are people in Japan. There's a group called Haikigori and there are people that are very, very socially withdrawn. But just because that's the way they are doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them,

but if they want to do that, then they have these options. And the verb is replace. So I don't think TikTok will replace face-to-face communication. I don't think social media could replace seeing people in person. And here we're using synonyms, you see. The examiner says face-to-face communication, you say see people in person. Younger friends and older friends. So it depends on your character.

Some people prefer to have older friends to have more guidance. So from older people, you get more guidance because they are more experienced. They are more grounded. Grounded means to make good decisions. Yeah, more sensible, so a grounded person doesn't do stupid things. Ideally. Yeah, jump out of a helicopter on Mount Everest. Then decide to fly to Zimbabwe, run with.

with zebras. So, like, he's very grounded. Technology has changed people's friendships. Here, we're using present perfect. So something has changed or something hasn't changed. And when you talk about technology, use present perfect. Like, oh, smartphones have changed the way we communicate now. Or Wi-Fi has changed the world.

or I don't know children have changed online games have changed children and people do you think so oh I think so yeah online games

really no like attention span and oh okay maybe yeah kids these days like they want everything in one go and everything should change very fast

bam bam bam bam bam bam you know and they can take in a lot more so you should could kind of give them more, not just like tell them one thing for 10 minutes. It's too boring. Because in the game everything happens, you know, bam, my, my, my, very fast.

Or they could just learn to wait and listen. Touch base with people all over the world. That just means stay up to date with. Touch base with someone means to talk briefly with someone. It's an idiom. You can touch pace with people. all over the world. So you can talk to people all over the world at the touch of a button.

So you just push a button and then off you go. You talk to people from all over the world. So you can communicate with people from all over the world at the touch of a button. At the touch of a button. Careful with articles. Yeah, thanks to technology. Thanks to computers, smartphones. the internet, the internet deal is now.

And this communication is readily available. Get it very easily. We get it very easily at the touch of a button, and off you go. Instantly, right away. But technology is a double-edged sword. Yay, that's another idiom, which is great. A double-edged sword. SOT is this thing.

You can go to Google Images and Google Sword, S-W-O-R-D. S-W-R-D. S-W-R-D. Yeah, like with a metal blade sword. So double-edged. So imagine that if you have a knife, but one side is sharp, and another side is sharp. So it's kind of like a double-edged knife. Sharp, sharp.

at both ends. So, a double-edged sword means something that acts in two ways. One is negative and the other one could be positive. So fame, to be famous, can be a double-edged sword. It has its positives and negatives. Technology is a double-edged sword on the one hand. It's great to communicate. with people from all over the world.

On the other hand, you don't appreciate it so much. Thank you very much for listening, dear listener. And we'll get back to you in our next episode. Stay with us. Bye. Love and hugs. Bye. This episode is brought to you by Accenture.

When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, Using automation, analytics and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. Why do people keep in touch with their friends from childhood? I imagine because they like their company and want to keep good people in their lives. there might also be some kind of sense of obligation as well, maybe.

Could you explain it further? Yeah, you might have grown apart in terms of your interests or other things you once had in common, but you might stay in contact just to keep the peace or maybe you don't want to rock the boat by cutting them loose. How important is childhood friendship to children? It's indispensable, I'd say. Children benefit a great deal psychologically from it

and, well, probably physiologically too, since they have people they can have a good time with and learn from and they can go out and grow up together. And what evidence do you have for that? Well, I can't see any other reason why children might seek each other out. Can you? You can't just be a self-contained unit your entire life. There has to be some connection to give life meaning

or at least keep things interesting or help keep them interesting. Do you think online social media will replace face-to-face communication? It might for some very isolated people like of Heikomori in Japan. They've been so socially isolated that it's pretty much all they have. And it could be beneficial if some people really struggle, but I doubt it will completely replace seeing people in person for the vast majority. We seem to have almost evolved to seek it out and take comfort from that. So I don't think that will change any time soon. What's the difference between having younger friends and older friends?

Well, that probably depends on your own character, I'd imagine, but very broadly speaking, older friends would probably give more guidance and be more grounded, while you might find yourself being, or at least in the role, or more of an older sibling role for your younger friends. That's assuming people behave in ways typical for their age, of course. The opposite could also be true. Has that always been true? Oh, definitely. People have always shown they're wildly different to each other in lots of different ways.

How has technology changed people's friendships? Well, in some ways it strengthened them, because you can touch base with people all over the world at like a touch of a button these days. So you don't have to wait ages for a reply. In other ways, though, it might have weakened them because something so readily available has less. value for many people. So they might not appreciate what they have as much as when things were a bit slower and less instantaneous. Do you think that will also be true in the future? That's the nature of technology, really. It's almost been a bit of a double-edged sword. If you want a $3,000 a month payday for life, what would you feel free to do? Maybe take a long

weekend, every weekend, or try a bunch of new hobbies? Would you feel free to upgrade? What do you feel free to great and listen ad free? Don't worry. We get it. Every $20 ticket could win you $3,000 a month for life and supports life-saving cancer research at the Princess Margaret. Feel free to buy your payday for life ticket today. Raffle number 155-2194. Please play responsibly.