Is Facebook Destroying Kids' Brains?

Okay, look, we know that unchecked addiction to the Internet and social networking sites is going to have a negative impact on your mental abilities and attention span, but warnings from neuroscientist Susan Greenfield make Facebook out to be an epidemic worse than the Bubonic Plague and Rickrolling combined.
Most of the news isn't new; scientists believe that the Internet is changing how our brains develop as we get older, affecting everything from how we associate information to how we socialize. Greenfield and others, however, are beginning to argue that social networking sites, video games and other electronic media are doing more harm than good. According to an interview with the Daily Mail, Greenfield believes that such input may be "infantilising" the brain, creating a generation of "children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment."
Greenfield takes her sensationalistic and alarmist views a step further, postulating a link between rising occurrences of disorders like autism and the prevalence of social networking sites.
Sure, there are trade-offs. But while, over time, our face-to-face social skills may suffer, studies show that our abilities to filter large amounts of information and perform complex reasoning are improved by using the Internet and tools such as Google.
This doesn't mean that there isn't some cause for concern, just that perhaps we shouldn't be overstating the dangers. After all, Facebook is not part of some plot by Dr. Doom to take over the world. [From: Daily Mail]
Teen Texting Craziness
Syracuse University professor Laurence Thomas made news last year for walking out of the classroom whenever his students disobeyed his "no texting in class" rule. Wouldn't the kind of student who would text in class be happy to have class canceled?
In January, 13-year-old Californian Reina Hardesty sent 14,528 text messages from her cell phone. Fortunately for her daddy, he had her on an unlimited text plan.
Two high school cheerleaders in Seattle were suspended from school in December when school officials found out that they had taken nude pictures of themselves on their cell phones and, mistakenly or not, wound up with them circulating through the football locker room. The girls' parents have filed suit against the school. You'd think they would just let the embarassment die quietly.
In December, while on a class trip (according to an Internet rumor anyway), the above message appeared on 18-year-old Elizabeth Frisinger's phone after mistakenly texting her dad, back home in Cleveland, that she'd just lost her virginity. Whoops!
Outdoing Reina Hardesty, 15-year-old Ohioan Paige Hornev averages 15,000 text messages a month. That comes out to the impressive, or pitiful, average of 500 text messages a day.
Thinking about Emily Jenning's texting abilities just makes our thumbs hurt. The Vancouver, British Columbia teen pumped out an absurd 41,600 text messages in the course of a single month -- we did some quick calculations and that works out to about one text every minute.





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Comments
119
Subscribe to commentsBiggWylmaFeb 24th 2009 8:30PM
Rediculous. Utterly rediculous.
AlannaFeb 24th 2009 8:42PM
what's the most ridiculous is your lack of ability to spell ridiculous...
ErinFeb 24th 2009 9:46PM
I don't know how absurd this is... I mean, I don't think the very next generation is going to be brain dead and I think the internet can be and is used for a lot of good.
The problem starts when parents let their kids go on the internet unchecked, and all they do is go online and watch TV. I think limiting the amount of time they're on is a way to keep that degradation in check. Once again, people blaming all these outside sources when it's their own fault.
Erin
BiggWylmaFeb 24th 2009 10:12PM
Oh, my, Alanna. I'm so sorry-I didn't realize I was posting in a "spelling police" area. No comment on the story whatsoever, just pointing out someone else's errors. Hope it made you feel good about yourself. Maybe *you've* been spending too much time on Facebook, and the typos and spelling errors have become your main source of self esteem, rather than actually communicating with people and sharing thoughts and ideas. Gee, maybe the story *is* right... (note the sarcasm with which the last sentence was said)
GingerFeb 24th 2009 11:39PM
Gee whiz, your only comment was one misspelled word, and common one, too. No justification, no reasons presented for your view. You did add credence to the story.
MonkeyFeb 25th 2009 9:28PM
Who Cares. If you don't like the modern world go set up camp on a deserted island or go live in the forest. We will always invent & create. It's the human way.
a momFeb 24th 2009 8:41PM
Whoa...not so surprising! The caveman never had electricity and communicated one and one for a millenium. Brain changes...obesity...national debt...all related to the modern lifestyle.
JMFeb 25th 2009 3:47PM
Then go live in a cave if the "modern lifestyle" is too much for you. This isn't Little House on the Prairie, it's 2009. Deal.
RolyFeb 26th 2009 1:53PM
I support your view, mom. You see, one of the negative effects of modern lifestyle is that any son of "not you" can respond as rude as this guy, with no sense of respect for social conversation, and think that they made a point -this is modern lifestyle communication! This is proof that just as the article says, we're losing our social skills for the unreal (virtual) world. The worst part is that they don't notice that modern lifestyle isn't too much for you, but for them, because of their obvious lack of knowledge on how to approach it. "Let's be harsh with others because I'll never have to see their faces". Given these conditions, everyone is brave to be rude.
MichaelFeb 24th 2009 8:44PM
In other news, Elvis is alive.
MichaelFeb 24th 2009 8:45PM
Aren't these the same claims people have made towards radio, tv, and many other inventions over the years?
Mr McGriddlecakesFeb 25th 2009 3:26PM
And people have progessively gotten dumber over the years. I do think the generation after us is gonna be retarded. Yes, clinically retarded not, simply dumb. And I'm in my 20s.
LindaFeb 24th 2009 8:55PM
lol Michael ya think? I see fat kids who arent allowed on the computer but can sit and watch tv and feed their cute little pie holes to obesity. Same goes for adults. Facebook has nothing to do with good parenting, limited internet use and the responsibility to GO OUTSIDE AND SPEND TIME WITH YOUR KIDS. As for me, I'll play on Facebook when and where I want and it's no one's business but mine.
dkjfidFeb 24th 2009 9:01PM
if its true then crap
fay schneiderFeb 24th 2009 9:41PM
I grew up in front of the TV,(1950's) but I also played a lot outside and in the woods with my friends. But the thing that I notice in the 2000's is children don't play outside in their yards anymore. They play in organized sports. Before and Afterschool organized places..
No one uses their yards anymore. Even when the weather is good, I see no one outside...and we live in a safe neighborhood.
Everybody is help captive by their sell phones and other electronic devices. It's sad.
Parents should spend unorganized time with their kids, even if it is only a hour a day. M-F. It's the difference between having a socially adept kid and one who's looking for a father-figure or a mother-figure..these are the kids who are found by the perverts and where are the pervets hiding but on the web under a 1000 alias's.
RocoFeb 25th 2009 12:51AM
Hallelulah! Some people actually think for themselves and find this all to be a load of blarney! Autism is no more an epidemic than ADHD. Yes these things are real, but not as prevalent as the media makes them out to be. They just make some wild claim to get our attention to a web page where a lot of fancy adverts are. They aren't giving us information or news, they're playing us like a harp from hell.
At the same token, I'm twenty years old and go to college. And as little as I do talk to my parents I would NEVER tell tehm that if they wish to see a picture of me "get online". What the hell happened to my generation? I look at my parents and feel envious of them, and of my grandparents. My parents had the eighties/nineties: generation X. My grandparents had VietNam and the free love era/hippies. What dos my generation have? Cheap entertainment (not even thrilling) with nothing to identify ourselves by, no espirit de corps, no pride, nothing. We have technology.
Just waned to put that out there. Makes me said that all of you older folks who've done so much for us.
ashFeb 25th 2009 6:39PM
From personal experience, I can't agree with you about the kids staying inside because of cell phones, computers, and TV. My overprotective parents didn't like me going outside alone, even though I lived in a very safe neighborhood. No one else was outside, though, so of course that meant I wasn't allowed outside. I suppose other parents were the same way mine were. The only other fun I could have was on the computer or watching the TV, and THAT'S why I, at least, would use them. I don't think the blame should be placed entirely on modern technology for keeping kids inside.
JDFeb 24th 2009 10:01PM
I asked my college aged son to send me pictures from his freshman year at college. He said, "Mom, join Facebook and you'll have all the pictures you want to look at." I thought, "Oh brother, Facebook is something I don't want to join." Well, I joined, now have a multitude of wonderful pictures, came in contact with people from my college days I haven't talked to in 20+ years, joined a college alumni group, stay in touch with family and other friends, and have fun doing it all. Oh, I also am around people every day via work, church, etc. so it doesn't keep me secluded in front of my computer 24 hours a day. Facebook hasn't limited my world, its expanded it.
ElphntldyFeb 27th 2009 10:03AM
I agree with many of you...first we can't blame computers, cell phones, and video games for our childrens lack of socialization it is up to the parents to set some limitations because children will be children and take a mile if you give them an inch and over indulge at least my son does and he is 15 and thinks life is all about video games. He is not allowed on the computer because we caught him looking up things he should not have been....again watching what your children our doing. As far as outside, well you truly don't see kids out like when I was growning up shot we used to make club houses, race in the streets and just have a good old time but now kids just don't find it fun to be outside and I don't blame them. I for one watch my daughter like a hawk because of all the craziness in this world with the murderers and sexual idiots we have running around. I for one never leave my child alone and I do give my time and play with her whether it's inside or outside.
Only thing I can say is limit the computer/video time and watch what they are doing while on because those who want to do harm
look for kids online and will get all the information they want to find a way to do harm to them.
I love this modern world we live in because I can stay connected to old classmates and family and see tons of pictures and find all the information I need. It's up to us as parents to teach our children how not to be rude and be able to socialize with others and have limitations because to be honest there is nothing like face to face interaction.
RiaFeb 24th 2009 10:22PM
This is bull. My best friends are online friends, and I spend a lot of time on the computer, but my parents know when I need to get out and off the laptop AND desktop computer.
It's not the internet, it's the bad parenting. Geeze, it's not that hard to figure out what the x is in 2 + x = 4