Brain Fitness NewsPoor Concentration & Focus Among Neuroscientist Worries Over Myspace, Facebook & Others!
In a recent address before Parliament, Oxford University neuroscientist and director of the Royal Institution Susan Greenfield proposed that repeated exposure to social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter - as well as long-term exposure to chat rooms, computer games, and action movies could leave a generation with poor attention spans. According to Greenfield, this level of exposure could effectively 'rewire' the brain..
Speaking to the UK's Daily Mail, she stated, "We know how small babies need constant reassurance that they exist. My fear is that these technologies are infantilizing 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."
Sue Palmer, author of Toxic Childhood, proclaims that, "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."
More than 200 million teens and adolescents use popular social networking sites as a major part of their daily life, and a Broadcaster Audience Research Board study has found that teenagers now spend seven-and-a-half hours a day in front of a screen.
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