An Oxford University neuroscientist, Susan Greenfield says that social networking websites like Facebook are causing alarming changes in the brains of young users. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter are said to shorten attention spans, make young people more self-centered, and encourage instant gratification.
“We know how small babies need constant reassurance that they exist”, she told the UK’s Daily Mail.
“My fear is that these technologies are infantilising the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment.”
Lady Greenfield, head of Royal Institute, has concerns that internet-obsessed children were losing the ability to concentrate and communicate away from the screen. Regular web users displayed a need for constant reassurance typical of small babies.
Lady Greenfield, head of Royal Institute, has concerns that internet-obsessed children were losing the ability to concentrate and communicate away from the screen. Regular web users displayed a need for constant reassurance typical of small babies.
While speaking to House of Lords she also warned that conversations in chat rooms, message boards and on networking websites were replacing the face-to-face interactions that are key to developing a child’s sociability.
“I often wonder whether real conversation in real time may eventually give way to these sanitized and easier screen dialogues, in much the same way as killing, skinning and butchering an animal to eat has been replaced by the convenience of packages of meat on the supermarket shelf,” she said.
“It is hard to see how living this way on a daily basis will not result in brains, or rather minds, different from those of previous generations.”
Toxic Childhood author Sue Palmer told the Daily Mail, “We are seeing children’s brain development damaged because they don’t engage in the activity they have engaged in for millennia. “I’m not against technology and computers. But before they start social networking, they need to learn to make real relationships with people.”
Teenagers spend an average of 31 hours a week online, research suggests. Social networking sites like Facebook that allow young people to keep in touch with their friends, publish photos and post updates on what they are doing are particularly popular.
Scientists are divided about the mental consequences of the digital revolution; a study published last year showed that internet use could improve brain function and speed up decision-making but at the expense of empathy and the ability to think in abstract terms.
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