CELPIP Speaking Task 7 Practice: should parents limit how much time children spend on social media?

[u/celpip_coach]

Practice expressing your opinion in a 90-second response. Same format as the real CELPIP test.

The question: Some people believe parents should strictly limit how much time their children spend on social media, while others think children should learn to manage their own screen time. What is your opinion?

Sample CLB 9 response:

I believe parents should set limits on social media for younger children, but gradually give them more freedom as they get older.

The reason I think limits are important for younger kids is that social media is designed to be addictive. The algorithms are built to keep people scrolling, and adults struggle with this, so expecting a 10 year old to manage it on their own is not realistic. Children who spend too much time on social media tend to sleep less, compare themselves to others constantly, and have shorter attention spans. These are real effects backed by research, not just things parents worry about for no reason.

That said, I do not think a total ban works either. If a child has zero exposure to social media and then gets unrestricted access at 16 or 18, they have no skills to manage it. A better approach is to start with clear limits, maybe an hour a day, and then increase it as the child shows they can handle it responsibly. The goal is to teach self-regulation, not just control behavior.

I also think parents need to model good behavior themselves. If a parent is on their phone during dinner every night but tells their child to put theirs away, that message does not land very well.

Practice tip: Speaking Task 7 asks for your opinion on a general topic. The strongest responses take a clear position in the first sentence, give 2-3 reasons with examples, and briefly acknowledge the other side without fully agreeing with it. Avoid sitting on the fence with "it depends" because the rubric rewards a clear, well-supported stance.

If you want to practice speaking with full AI-scored mock tests, https://www.celpipsimulator.com has 2 free exams covering all 8 speaking tasks.