Shorter attention spans
The need for Sensationalism
Inability to empathise with others
Poor sense of identity

Young people who spend hours in the world of virtual relationships are at a greater risk of psychological damage according to leading UK neuroscientist, Lady Greenfield, professor of synaptic pharmacology at Lincoln College Oxford.

She is urging the UK government to look at the broader cultural and psychological effects of on-screen friendships that are formed through Facebook and other social networking sites, rather than just introducing internet regulations.

Lady Greenfield said “social networking is relevant and important because relationships are relevant and important and all human beings engage in them. But I would extend screen life (and the issues of living life in 2 dimensions) to include games and how you solve problems, to how you learn things as well as how you relate to other people.”

It also raises the question about what makes a friend and how spending hours in front of the computer can affect young people’s ability to make deep and meaningful relationships, now and in the future.

Lady Greenfield feels that “it questions what a friendship is… if you define a friend as just saying ‘hi how are you?’  ‘I’m getting up’. ‘I’m cleaning my teeth’. That’s a rather self centred admission or way of talking to someone. It’s not actually interacting. It’s not actually getting to know that person in depth”.

She told the House of Lords that children’s experiences on social networking sites “are devoid of cohesive narrative and long-term significance. As a consequence, the mid-21st century mind might almost be infantilised, characterised by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity”.

She commented that “It might be helpful to investigate whether the near total submersion of our culture in screen technologies over the last decade might in some way be linked to the threefold increase over this period in prescriptions for methylphenidate, the drug prescribed for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.”

Through her research Lady Greenfield has found that young people today operate mainly in the here and now. They go for the instant gratification rather than contemplating any consequences.

Many computer games concentrate on giving the player a ‘buzz or thrill’.  So for example rescuing the princess is what the game is all about because the player feels an instant ‘high’.  However no regard is given to the princess or how she might feel. The game can be played again and again, and the player is always the ‘hero’ with a feel good outcome.

According to Lady Greenfield this type of repeated activity and a disregard for consequence, can be compared with the thrill of compulsive gambling or compulsive eating.

“The sheer compulsion of reliable and almost immediate reward is being linked to similar chemical systems in the brain that may also play a part in drug addiction. So we should not underestimate the ‘pleasure’ of interacting with a screen when we puzzle over why it seems so appealing to young people” she said.

Already young people are losing the art of ‘reading’ face to face interactions which according to Lady Greenfield “require sensitivity to voice tone, body language and perhaps even to pheromones, those sneaky molecules that we release and which others smell subconsciously”.

A huge shift in society and culture is needed if we are to reverse this growing trend and bring teenagers back to a real world where they are equipped to handle what life throws at them.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha
Source: The Guardian UK