Are lectures an effective teaching method at universities or should they be phased out?

Due to the rise in Technology, lectures nowadays can be viewed easily and studied online without the student even having to attend the class. Therefore students feel they don’t need to attend the lecture at all to ‘simply watch a lecturer read from the slides’. Looking back to the past however, without the internet, the lecture was the only chance a student could get to receive that information, to learn it and be involved with everyone else learning at the same time. Sure you can study the lecture slides online alone, but if you have a question? And sometimes in a lecture others will have questions you might have not thought of which would create a useful and informative discussion.

I would say a good lecture requires both lecture and students to be present, in order to create a special moment where everyone can actively participate, and get something from the time spent in that lecture hall. If phased out, it may create more isolation in studying, which in todays society isolation is already a large problem thanks to the rise of social media use among youths. It would also take away the important elements of questioning and discussion with peers.