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Facebook and Twitter creating vain self-obsessed people with child-like need for feedback
Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 30th July 2011 | Sarah Harris

Posted on 07/30/2011 7:40:57 PM PDT by Mount Athos

Facebook and Twitter have created a generation obsessed with themselves, who have short attention spans and a childlike desire for constant feedback on their lives, a top scientist believes.

Baroness Greenfield, professor of pharmacology at Oxford University, believes the growth of internet 'friendships' could effectively 'rewire' the brain.

This can result in reduced concentration, a need for instant gratification and poor non-verbal skills, such as the ability to make eye contact during conversations.

Baroness Greenfield, former director of research body the Royal Institution, said: 'What concerns me is the banality of so much that goes out on Twitter.

'Why should someone be interested in what someone else has had for breakfast? It reminds me of a small child (saying): “Look at me Mummy, I'm doing this”

'It's almost as if they're in some kind of identity crisis. In a sense it's keeping the brain in a sort of time warp.'

The academic suggested that some Facebook users feel the need to become 'mini celebrities' who are watched and admired by others on a daily basis.

They do things that are 'Facebook worthy' because the only way they can define themselves is by 'people knowing about them'.

'It's almost as if people are living in a world that's not a real world, but a world where what counts is what people think of you or (if they) can click on you,' she said.

'Think of the implications for society if people worry more about what other people think about them than what they think about themselves.'

Her views were echoed by Sue Palmer, a literacy expert and author, who said girls in particular believe they are a 'commodity they must sell to other people' on Facebook.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alienation; facebook; narcisissm; narcissism; socialmedia; twitter
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To: Mount Athos

>vain self-obsessed people with child-like need for feedback,<

Like your standard FR thread starters?


21 posted on 07/30/2011 8:02:09 PM PDT by max americana (FUBO NATION 2012 FK BARAK)
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To: Mount Athos
have created a generation obsessed with themselves, who have short attention spans and a childlike desire for constant feedback on their lives

In other words, another generation of liberals.

We're doomed.

22 posted on 07/30/2011 8:02:31 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: Mount Athos

LEAVE FACEBOOK ALONE!!!

/sarc


23 posted on 07/30/2011 8:02:44 PM PDT by pogo101
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To: caver
The self esteem movement has created a bunch of worthless youngsters that can’t function without someone telling them that 2 + 2 = 5. No one has the balls to tell them that they are wrong.

I just went through the drive-thru of a local ice cream joint.

I asked the young man for a pint of soft-serve. He asked if it'd be alright if he just filled a 32 ounce cup?

And no...I didn't correct him.

24 posted on 07/30/2011 8:04:11 PM PDT by digger48
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To: freedumb2003

Thru facebook I just reconnected with some very old friends from high school and the military. Great friends that I just lost contact with.

Never would have found them without facebook or something very similar.


25 posted on 07/30/2011 8:04:22 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: Mount Athos
"vain self-obsessed people with child-like need for feedback..."

That's me, but I only had ham radio at the time and stuck with it.
26 posted on 07/30/2011 8:06:03 PM PDT by Thrownatbirth (.....Iraq Invasion fan since '91.)
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To: digger48

those youngesters always existed, they are just like their parents.


27 posted on 07/30/2011 8:07:03 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: max americana

You got me pegged! haha


28 posted on 07/30/2011 8:07:38 PM PDT by Mount Athos (A Giant luxury mega-mansion for Gore, a Government Green EcoShack made of poo for you)
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To: Mount Athos

Self-obsessed generations started after WW II.


29 posted on 07/30/2011 8:09:28 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch (Plink)
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To: RetiredTexasVet
We used to look out the office window and watch them walk into light poles, stop signs and into the streets.

That's what YouTube is for.

30 posted on 07/30/2011 8:11:03 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
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To: Mount Athos

Kinda like a professor of pharmacology at Oxford University who needs to publish papers to been seen and committed on.


31 posted on 07/30/2011 8:11:17 PM PDT by ThomasThomas (I am still looking)
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To: JRandomFreeper

Physically, I can be kind of a recluse. But I do like going on-line and bantering back and forth with my mom, my sister, a few co-workers, and a few friends from high school. We’re geographically so far apart, FB is really the only way. I get kind of sick of these little Pop Studies that constantly “warn” us of all the dangers of every new trend. I bet when flushing toilets became widespread, some twit somewhere popped up immediately to “warn” us that this new invention creates a breed of people who think all problems can be flushed away just by pulling a chain, and were therefore psychologically stunted.


32 posted on 07/30/2011 8:11:27 PM PDT by A_perfect_lady (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: Mount Athos

I’m eating a cheese sandwich.


33 posted on 07/30/2011 8:16:37 PM PDT by Drango (NO-vember is payback for April 15th)
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To: Drango

What kind of bread?


34 posted on 07/30/2011 8:18:08 PM PDT by ThomasThomas (I am still looking)
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To: A_perfect_lady
Social media is a wonderful tool. But like crack, can highlight a subculture to their perpetual constant self absorption - and the phenom is scary.
35 posted on 07/30/2011 8:24:44 PM PDT by endthematrix (The Name of the Game is BAILOUT.)
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To: A_perfect_lady
I didn’t know the desire for feedback was “childish.” I thought it was “human.”

No, refusing to acknowledge the obvious point of obsessive narcissism is "childish."

Merely claiming to be "human" is simply a way to demonize a critic for catching you being "childish."

36 posted on 07/30/2011 8:25:55 PM PDT by Talisker (History will show the Illuminati won the ultimate Darwin Award.)
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To: digger48
I asked the young man for a pint of soft-serve. He asked if it'd be alright if he just filled a 32 ounce cup?

And no...I didn't correct him.

Where did you go? In today's economy I love two for one deals!

37 posted on 07/30/2011 8:26:52 PM PDT by mlocher (Is it time to cash in before I am taxed out?)
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To: Talisker

Sounds like self-righteousness to me. And a university hack who needs to publish.


38 posted on 07/30/2011 8:27:54 PM PDT by A_perfect_lady (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: Mount Athos

The man without a facebook:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a69RpEBJFAY


39 posted on 07/30/2011 8:28:02 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: A_perfect_lady
I bet when flushing toilets became widespread, some twit somewhere popped up immediately to “warn” us that this new invention creates a breed of people who think all problems can be flushed away just by pulling a chain, and were therefore psychologically stunted.

LOL! You mean we have to wait until 2012 to get a new president?

40 posted on 07/30/2011 8:28:36 PM PDT by mlocher (Is it time to cash in before I am taxed out?)
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