Casa ESL · conversation questions

28 ESL Conversation Questions About Technology

Everyone has a phone and an opinion about it. Technology questions generate real disagreement — the engine of real conversation.

Warm-up questions A1–A2 · beginner

  1. How many hours a day do you use your phone?
  2. What apps do you use every day?
  3. Do you like video games?
  4. What technology can you not live without?
  5. Do you watch more TV or YouTube?
  6. Who taught you to use a computer?
  7. Do you talk to voice assistants? What do you ask?
  8. What was your first phone like?
  9. Do you read news on paper or on a screen?
  10. What technology confuses you?

Discussion questions B1–B2 · intermediate

  1. Is social media good or bad for friendship? Give examples.
  2. What technology from your childhood do you miss?
  3. Should children under 14 have smartphones? What rules would you set?
  4. What app would you invent if you could?
  5. How has technology changed dating in your country?
  6. Do you trust online reviews? How do you decide?
  7. What is something everyone does online that you refuse to do?
  8. Is it rude to check your phone during dinner? Always?
  9. How do you protect your privacy — or have you given up?
  10. What did the internet ruin, and what did it save?

Debate & depth C1–C2 · advanced

  1. Should AI companions for lonely people be celebrated or feared?
  2. Is privacy dead — and did we kill it ourselves?
  3. Who should regulate AI: governments, companies, or nobody?
  4. Are algorithms making culture more diverse or more identical?
  5. Would you accept a brain implant that doubled your memory? Terms and conditions?
  6. Is "digital detox" a real solution or a luxury ritual?
  7. Does anonymous speech online do more good or harm?
  8. If you could un-invent one technology, which and why?

Teaching tips

  • Instant debate: split the room on "phones should be banned in schools."
  • Have students explain an app they love to someone who has never seen it — pure fluency practice.
  • Vocabulary seeds: scroll, notification, algorithm, screen time, upload, subscription, device.

Practise these with a real teacher.

One-on-one conversation lessons, A1 to C2 — friendly, structured, and personal.

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