Is Social Networking Killing Our Brains?

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I was just going to blog about something, but the topic completely escapes me.

OH, wait, I remember!

I was going to warn you about the damage some scientists feel social networking sites are doing to our brains.

From Twitter to Facebook, MySpace to Bebo, British neuroscientist Susan Greenfield warns that these sites and ones like it are damaging the brains of our world’s youth.

The Oxford University worker believes that the rapid growth of these sites causes shortened attention spans, a lack of empathy and the desperate pursuit of being accepted by others. This cocktail of symptoms could result in a lack of communication in the future.

It’s often been argued that online social networks are nowhere near as social as the name implies.

“If the young brain is exposed from the outset to a world of fast action and reaction, of instant new screen images flashing up with the press of a key, such rapid interchange might accustom the brain to operate over such timescales. Perhaps when in the real world such responses are not immediately forthcoming, we will see such behaviours and call them attention-deficit disorder,” said Ms. Greenfield.

I’m not sure if our brains are collectively melting away. What do you think?

In the meantime, if social networking is responsible for brain loss, than RotorBlog is your #1 source to ‘get dumb.’ Join us!