Academic Writing Task: business meetings are being conducted online rather than person to person.

There is no denying the fact that technology has completely upended our lives. We live in a world where more people communicate with each other via technology than person to person. And business meetings are not immune to this trend. This has both positive and negative aspects, and I will discuss them in the subsequent paragraphs with relevant examples.
To begin with, there are many benefits of exploiting technology to its fullest and people around the world have benefitted tremendously from such modern marvels. Firstly, people can work from anywhere around the world and do not need to be physically present at a particular place. During a meeting they can share the updates and review the data at the click of the button. Secondly, it is of particular significance to people who are unable to travel to office like sick people and pregnant women. Thirdly, it has been found that people are more productive and participate in online meetings more enthusiastically as typically these meetings involve people from higher management. For example, a company I used to work for would have the General Manager among the audience most of the times. As he was based abroad and would rarely visit our office, online meetings made it possible to get in touch with him directly and to keep him in the loop.
There are many disadvantages, however, of online meetings as well. Many people claim that they are unable to present their views adequately, and find it bit inconvenient to meet online. They miss the human touch and the camaraderie between the employees when they choose to meet virtually. Moreover, meetings are not only about business but it also develops a sense of community among the employees. With this significant part missing from their work life, they tend to drift apart from their colleagues.
While I believe technology is the way forward and we cannot shun it altogether, meeting online should be an option we should use sparingly. Completely abandoning meeting in person and using only technology would perhaps not have the desired consequences on either the employees or the company in the long run. (354 words)