Social Web Sites Cause Brain Damage?

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According to neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, social networking web sites are causing alarming changes in people's brains. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Bebo shorten attention spans, diminish the ability to communicate and concentrate, encourage instant gratification, and make people more self-centered.

Interestingly, these same problems (along with increased frequency of ADD, criminal behavior, drug use, teenage pregnancy, depression, and suicide) also occur more frequently in single parent homes.

I also recall reading the remarks of a British jurist who observed that young people make bad jurors because they have such short attention spans. Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge of Draycote is of the view that Gen-Y folks are so used to information presented on a screen that they are unable to listen to complex arguments in a courtroom.

At the same time, social sites seem to provide an advantage to business. Perhaps the breakdown is social technology as business tool vs. social technology as social mechanism?