Social network sites are putting attention span in jeopardy. If the young brain is exposed from the beginning to a world of fast action and reaction, of instant screen images flashing up with the press of a key, such rapid interchange might familiarize the brain to operate over such timescales. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter are said to shorten attention spans, encourage instant gratification and make young people more self-centered. Perhaps when in the real world such responses are not immediately helpful, we will see such behaviors in children and young teens and call them attention-deficit disorder. Baroness Greenfield, an Oxford University Neuroscientist and Director of the Royal Institution, believes repeated exposure could effectively “rewire” the brain. She says, “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.” She followed with, “It is hard to see how living this way on a daily basis will not result in brains, or rather minds, different from those of previous generations.” The pure impulse 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. We definitely should not underestimate the delight of interacting with a screen when we puzzle over why it seems so appealing to us.
Social networking sites can provide a constant reassurance that you are listened to, recognized, and important. Instead the face-to-face, real life conversation, which is far more unpredictable and stressful than the computer mediated conversation, happens in real time; there is no opportunity to think up witty responses, a real conversation exposes your tone of voice, your body language, and probably even your emitted pheromones, which are molecules that transmit mainly sexual and social messages that others perceive unconsciously.
Communication is one of the most important devices we have as humans, but it is the way we communicate dictates how relationships form. Picture this scenario: you just meet a potential friend/love interest for the first time and then you exchange numbers. Do you text them next or talk on the phone? Most people I know, including myself, decide to text the person first. Then, texting all of the time starts to become a replacement for phone conversations; since texting is more versatile in timing and can be sent quickly. However, if you don’t know someone well enough, a long texting conversation can become the kiss of death. For instance, if you’re flirting over text, but you have not actually flirted in person yet, it is tremendously awkward to see the person again when you have only revealed your true feelings electronically. The same is true with Facebook. It is like inviting someone into your home when you become “friends” because they can see what you’ve said to other people and vice versa. All of your information is there for others to see, even the embarrassing video of you singing a popular 90’s tune on your guitar. If you do not get to know someone’s interests from them, you are not really getting to know them; you are just getting to know the social networking site’s version of the real person.
Now, the next question we need to ask ourselves is how are we to explain some of the collective anger that seems to be unleashed online; and is it a result of the same anger characterizing much of our society's discourse, or is it the cause?
The Internet community offers users a number of outlets to express their personal opinions and thoughts, from chat rooms to message forums to social networking sites. Many of these interactive web pages encourage or even require participants to remain anonymous or create alternative identities. The anonymity of the Internet may provide a level of privacy for users in the real world, but it can also enable certain participants to become much more aggressive or mean spirited than they would be without the promise of anonymity. To this effect, the Internet can definitely encourage others to ignore Internet etiquette and post malicious or deliberately provocative messages for the sole purpose of hurting other posters or chat room participants. For example, the Twitter post that outted the Rutgers student. These mean spirited or blatantly offensive Internet users are known as trolls in the Web community, and there have even been jobs assigned to website mediators who spend much of their time online deleting offensive messages and suspending the accounts of those who leave them. Besides, weather the effects of something as simple as a post online are intended or unintended our connectedness means that someone, somewhere will be affected.
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