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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 ...
All you see now is people looking at little screens & have no human contact anymore.
I still think the simpler life that I grew up in, was much better, neighbors cared about each other, family had time for each other. Times have changed beyond the rediculous!!
It also includes people on the FR that need the last word.
Lately I have been spending too much time on Free Republic and a few other sites. I'm going to sign off now and see if I can concentrate on a book for an hour.
FB/Twitter didn’t creat those people - it exposed them.
I agree. There are lots of new babies in my family. If it were not for FB, I would never see pictures of them or even know a baby was expected. I also keep up with high school and college friends. I keep up with church news.
This article is complete BS.
Please, please, let me know what you think of my post.
Please, please, let me know what you think of my post.
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Since 07-08-2011
LOL!
“FB/Twitter didn’t creat those people - it exposed them.”
Exactly.
I believe browsing the internet stimulates the same areas of the brain that slot machines do.
B Hussein Obama is on FaceBook and Twitter, isn’t he?
Well, he was vain and self-obsessed way before he ever Tweeted.
Obamalamadingdong Tweet “Have to go to bed with The Wookie now,,,,arg!”.
Have some cheese for me, I’m dairy sensitive. Haven’t had cheese since February!
ARG!
My old fav was sharp cheddar.
I lost 20 pounds since March. No dairy, no eggs, hence no baking either. Have found egg sub and butter sub for baking recently.
OK- the above TMI drivel is just the kind of crap posted on Twitter and FaceBook!
LOL!
I do not have a FaceBook or Twitter account.
I have FreeRepublic, who needs anything else!
FREEPATHON IS UNDERWAY!
WE’VE REACHED THE 75 PERCENT MARK!
ALL LURKERS ARE URGED TO DONATE AND STOP BEING FREELOADERS!
(said in the nicest possible way as to not offend the freeloaders!)
: )
“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.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When Dr. Edward Jenner brought out his smallpox vaccine there were people who held that no one had a right to interfere with one of God’s diseases.
I don’t have Facebook/Twitter accounts, but that’s because I am a narcissist without any friends.
No facebook
No twitter
No myspace
No TV (I make an exception for Jeopary! and Wheel of Fortune, heh)
No iPad
No iPod
No iPhone (I do have a cell phone that is ALWAYS turned off)
No beepers
No pagers
I don’t even answer the telephone any more.
Guess I’m about as backward as they come.
I pretty much broke the TV habit in 1971 — was stationed in Germany for a year. There was a TV there, but very little on it. I might have looked at it 6 times in the whole year (actually, I believe it was less).
But it something more than that. Somewhere back there, I made a conscious decision to simply drop out of “mainstream” culture, particulary music.
Since then, I’ve “gone my own way”, so to speak. I have no desire to “get with things” again. For me, there’s no hope!
Several years’ back, I was reading Pat Buchanan’s book “Death of the West”, and was surprised that he recommended people do pretty much what I did, that is, drop out of the “trash culture” and find (even create) their own “cultural sanctuaries” (those last two phrases are my own).
My only weakness: Macintosh!
Just sayin’....
Wow. That’s impressive. How were you even able to post?
There are people who are morbidly interested in every action of other people around them, and think that everyone around them is equally interested in their every little action. I don’t understand people like that and I watch what I say around them (because I am not an open book for other people’s entertainment).
I don’t think Twitter and Facebook created people like that. They’ve always been around. In times past, they were the town gossips.
I’m also not sure what scholarship a professor of pharmacology can bring to this subject. On this, she has nothing more than opinion to offer, just like anyone else who isn’t a neuroscientist, psychologist, or similar.
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