essay - GMAT: Issue 8

Question:
“For hundreds of years, the monetary system of most countries has been based on the exchange of metal coins and printed pieces of paper. However, because of recent developments in technology, the international community should consider replacing the entire system of coins and paper with a system of electronic accounts of credits and debits.”

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

Answer:
In this digital era, we enjoy convenient lives such that we have never considered before. For instance, we can pass through entrance gates at stations without paying actual money. This is so convenient that people can never go back to the previous system. However, I contemplate that abolishing coins and paper is too early for our society.

First and foremost, there's still a "digital divide", which is a social gap between ones who have and ones who don't have in terms of being able to enjoy digital lives. I especially stress that initial investments to introduce a digital money system costs too much for impoverished countries to afford. Also, the cost to have an equipment that stores digital money cannot be ignored for ordinary people. These mean that if the digital money system replaces current system in the future, many people will have trouble spending everyday lives.

Then, we cannot overlook the fact that the digital money system doesn't have well-established security systems. Actually, we have never faced a serious threat in digital monetary systems that we currently have, but in other digital fields such as an electronic mail system or an operating system there are in fact a lot of malice to threaten people's daily activities. Therefore, I think we cannot say that we are safe from threats such as thieving digital money from our digital wallets.

Because of two major reasons that I mentioned above, I cannot agree with the idea to introduce digital money system replacing the current coins and paper system. Only if the digital system prevails more and more and the security technology advances more and more, we will be able to enjoy a full digital era that we currently enjoy a part of it.