Is the Internet rewiring our kids’ brains?
A U.K. neuroscientist says that the use of Twitter, Facebook and video games is forcing children’s brains to go back to an “infant-like state”.
A U.K. neuroscientist says that the use of Twitter, Facebook and video games is forcing children's brains to go back to an "infant-like state".
Oxford University neuroscientist Susan Greenfield recently made this claim during a interview with the U.K.'s Daily Mail.
It's not the first time Greenfield has sounded the alarm regarding the potential negative side-effects of allowing kids to interact with technology. Earlier this month in a House of Lords debate, she claimed that "exposure to computer games, instant messaging, chat rooms and social networking sites could leave a generation with poor attention spans".
All of this sounds kind of scary, especially as it is coming from the person who heads up the Royal Institution, which according to its literature "is an independent charity dedicated to connecting people with the world of science." Baroness Susan Greenfield, as she is known officially (which explains her presence in the House of Lords) is also Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford. With credentials like these, it's tempting to take her statements as fact.
And yet Greenfield has offered no evidence whatsoever to back up her claims.
Instead, she appears to hold these 'truths' as self-evident, citing only one anecdotal experience of a teacher of 30 years who had told her she had noticed a sharp decline in the ability of her students to understand others.
Now I'm not a neuroscientist. I'm not a scientist of any kind. But as a concerned parent of two young children, who also happens to blog about technology on regular basis, I don't think it's unreasonable to demand proof when a respected member of the scientific community says:
My fear is that these technologies are infantilising 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 [...] 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
What is truly hard to see is why a scientist would publicly speculate about the cause and effect of potentially serious changes in our childrens' brains, without any scientific evidence.
Perhaps sensing that her statements needed more heft, Greenfield went a step further and proposed that there may even be a link between computer use and the increased rate of autism diagnoses:
Of course, we do not know whether the current increase in autism is due more to increased awareness and diagnosis of autism, or whether it can – if there is a true increase – be in any way linked to an increased prevalence among people of spending time in screen relationships. Surely it is a point worth considering.
Hmm. Perhaps the point that is truly worth considering is how "screen relationships" can have any impact on a medical condition that is typically diagnosed before the age of 3. I don't know about other kids out there, but my 7-year-old only just discovered the joys of Nintendo's Wii. With the exception of a very brief and disappointing experience with the Webkinz site, he has had no interest in social networking whatsoever. To be fair – his parents haven't engaged in it much either.
At the end of the piece from the Daily Mail, perhaps as a way to avoid being labeled a complete Luddite, Greenfield says
I'm not against technology and computers. But before they start social networking, they need to learn to make real relationships with people.
Again, I'm no scientist, but exactly who would our children be social networking with as a starting point if not the people with whom they already have 'real relationships'?
Just for the record, I actually think that the Baroness might be onto something here. It's perfectly reasonable to think that over time, consistent with the theory of evolution, the way we think and interact with one another will be influenced by the tools we use. A very amusing and quite insightful article was written not long ago about how Google might be making us stupid. It suggests that these changes may be happening faster than we think.
As a society, but especially as those charged with the responsibility of raising children, we need to be vigilant over the ways in which our kids interact with any technology. Just as it has never been a good idea to leave you children alone in front of the TV for hours, the use of the internet generally and social networking specifically, needs to be monitored.
Not because it's going to change our children's brains, but because there are very real threats that need to be guarded against. The case of the 13-year-old Megan Meier's MySpace suicide still haunts me.
Filed Under: Found on the Web > Rants > Science > Social Networking > Web 2.0 > Web/Tech
To think that a prominent, educated scientist, supposedly trained to think objectively, can be narrow-minded so much to the point that she not only believes old wives' tales about TV (and, by association, computers and related games based on said technology) rotting your brain, but also propagates the nonsense without so much as supplying results of a single experimental study.
As a computer programmer and avid game player, I suppose that with the ridiculous amount of hours over the many years I've spent sitting in front of my computer and video game console, I should be wearing earplugs to stop my mushy brain from oozing out my ears like over-heated rubber.
I'd like to supply a counter to her assumption: video games and computer use increase problem solving skills. I offer my own expertise as proof. Of course, that puts me on a higher playing field than the antiquated baroness since I've actually used said technology for over 20 years (and for the record my offline social life is quite busy).
As an added in-her-face, I've taken the liberty to paste an excerpt from the article "Do Video Games Make Kids Smarter?" filed by John Berman on abcnews.com for "World News Tonight":
"Intelligence test scores in the United States are rising faster than ever, experts say. One possible reason: Studies show video games make people more perceptive, training their brains to analyze things faster."
you can read the full article here
…and that's my little rant…now back to the lines and lines of source-code I'm supposed to be fixing…
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I am not particularly worried about the Internet rewiring our brains. This happens to us regardless of what we do. When we become electricians, teachers, architects or farmers, we learn to think alike electricians, teachers and architects and farmers. As we work within any occupation, we alter our ways of perceiving and thinking in a fashion that allows us to handle the very specific issues or challenges that this occupation presents.
With computers, the Internet and electronic toys, I am much more concerned that these devices take up the time that used to be allotted to boredom and the very important contribution that this makes to our development. In many ways, boredom is the foundation of curiosity, which then leads to investigation or play and ultimately to thinking and creativity. Like television before it, used simply as a time filler or babysitter, electronic devices such as computers can have a deleterious effect. On the other hand they can also be a wonderful window to virtually all the knowledge, literature, arts, science and human endeavor that has ever existed.
Like most objects or tools, these devices are inherently neither good nor bad. Their value comes from how they are employed. As parents, we must must take on the responsibility of teaching our children how to use them, just as generations before us taught their children how to use literacy as a means of developing their minds. As with other skills and talents, this needs to be nurtured in an organized and systematized fashion.
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if they're so concerned about the re-wiring of brains because of the internet, then why did they put this article n it?
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you can tell now our kids are loseing it .it dont take a genious to tell that.just listen to them talk sounds like a 2 year old.and look into there eyes.that tell the story.they think they are in hog heaven.one is behind you with a telephone and the other in front talking to each other.not a clue. thank you
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She doesn't need evidence to make a claim. What she is doing is raising awareness and getting it out there that it is happening. Kids today (and many adults that use alot of techonolgy) seem to have very short attention spans and are getting increasingly immature, negative and cynical about everything. They think everything is a joke and they know the answers to everything. I agree with Sylvia, it doesn't take a genuis to figure it out. Just because IQ scores are rising doesn't mean anything, I go to University with very, very bright kids, but when it comes to anything besides math and science they can't even put gas in a car, let alone hold a conversation half the time because of a lack of social skills, other than being king on their fav online video game or forum. Alot of kids today are jacks of all trades online but in real life masters of hardly anything besides their cell phones and video games.
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The Baroness is correct. Only a fool would think otherwise.
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I THINK SOME KIDS GO OVER BOARD WITH GAMES ETC , ITS THE PARENTS RESPONSABILITY TO WATCH HOW LONG THEY PLAY THEIR GAMES , SOME PARENTS ARE LOUSY THEY GIVE THEM ANYTHING SO THEY CAN HAVE SOME TIME ALONE , HECK NOW DAYS FAMILIES DONT EVEN HAVE MEALS TOGHETHER ANYMORE.I'VE SEEN SOME TEENAGERS EATING IN THE BEDROOMS SO THEY CAN PLAY THEIR GAMES ,PARENTS ARE NOT LIKE THEY USED TO BE NOW DAYS PARENTS WANTS TO BE BUDDIES WITH THEIR KIDS , YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A PARENT SO ACT LIKE ONE .
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a few rebuttals, if i may…
@ jer & larry's comments: i think the both of you hit it spot on, from different angles. not much more to expand there, just a kudos to both.
@ sylvia moore: are you one of these bumbling fool children? you certainly type like one…perhaps *you* should spend less time on the internet, and more in an english class. inflammatory? sure. perhaps it wasn't the right way to present my point, but you don't strike me as communicating any better than "…like a 2 year old".
@ jo: you're right, she doesn't need evidence to make a claim. in fact, i'd like to go on the record as saying that the sky is quite obviously pink, and the seas are made of milk chocolate. my claims wouldn't be any more correct, however. it would seem to me that a "respected" scientist would know better than to throw ridiculous claims out there without some kind of proof backing it. rather than jumping on the "video games are bad, mmkay?" bandwagon, perhaps she should have done a study, taking random subjects across a large sample (age, gender, familiarity with games/the internet. etc)and done a study testing things like attention span, IQ, their social lives, etc. you don't have to agree with me (that being a basic, fundamental right as a human), but next time you go outside and look up at that beautiful, pink sky on that wonderfully frigid summer's day, you think of me, okay?
@ lucia: i agree with you – in some regards. i do believe that parents should (in general) have a more active role in their kids' lives. not to say that there aren't some good parents out there. but, as society changes, so do the societal norms that go along with it. maybe 50 years ago, parents would rule with a more iron fist…however, thanks (in my opinion) to the politically correct movement, they no longer can. punish your child corporally? get charged with child abuse. ground your child? get charged with cruelty. unfortunately, times have changed, and i think there could be a compassionate medium met.
personally, i'm so sick and tired of video games being the scape goat for everything from spoiled, bratty kids to violence. my dad was an alcoholic…i don't touch liquor at all. should we ban booze because some kids go over board with it? it certainly didn't work in the 20's – 30's…so get off the bandwagon already.
/rant.
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Alright. My name is Sofia and I am 12 years old. Sympatico is my homepage, and I've noticed that a lot of the stuff I see on here is a load of crap.
But this is insane. I mean, seriously. "Rewiring our kids' brains?" That's stupid. I've been using the internet since I was 3 and I learned HTML by the time I was 8. I don't have trouble paying attention to anything interesting. (french class, however, I have problems with)
I hate those "spend some time outside" commercials and parents who put time limits on their kids' internet. Once I read some "internet safety guide" on here suggesting kids my age still play on Toontown. It made me pissed off beyond belief that people think that someone my age is so stupid they shouldn't be allowed to talk to people online or stay on the computer for as long as I want. I have TWO computers. I have probably an infinite number of social networking profiles and forum accounts. Have I been taken away from home by pedophiles? Didn't think so. Have I been corrupted with some internet-brain-syndrome? Yeah, I don't think that one's true either.
So give us all a break. Seriously. Do you really think we're this stupid?
- Sofia.
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@Sofia, I totally agree with you. I'm 16 and have been using the internet since i was about 10 years old. If anything the internet is a tool that can be used to supplement learning. I have searched things countless times on Google and understood concepts better afterwords or looked up definitions. All the information is there right at you're fingertips. Sometimes I think that these older people don't like change, but let's put it this way, technology is just going to keep getting more advanced and its helping us to do things more efficiently and better. This is the so-called internet generation, but why shoulden't it be? As for this scientist, I would think she would have done some studies and gotten proof before she throws out claims like that. Its absolutely un-scientific to publish something without doing numerous studies and gettting lots of data.
We're just as smart as the previous generation just computers and technology comes easier to us, because there wasn't a time when we didn't have it.
~Nick
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I can refute this argument with my own anecdotal experience: 11 year old daughter, about to go into junior high (we started her early) exposed to video games and the computer as early as 3 (we work in the industry). She is an honor student, a voracious reader, excels at science and math, LOVES to write, wants to be an engineer (civil, computer, electrical, etc.) when she grows up. She is beautiful, compassionate, calm, conscientious, as well as loves video games and can whip up a mean powerpoint presentation with a snap of fingers. So, how does she fit into this theory???
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So, the opinions regarding the effects of the internet on child development between a neuroscientist and a'blogger' are pitted against each other as 'news'?!
For Cohen to argue that technology, such as the internet (and televsion, and video games), has NOT altered human development is truly ignorant. Perhaps he should spend more time doing his own research before criticizing the knowledge of neuroscientists at one of the worlds most reputable universities.
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Anyone who believes there is no scientific evidence for the "rewiring" of brains should read "Ibrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind" by Dr. Gary Small of the University of California. He has documented his experimental research which has demonstrated that the "executive function" of the brain – the part that controls thinking, problem solving and task completion – has been significantly affected, and 'dulled' – by exposure to electronic media. Read it and learn! as a retired teacher of 33 years I can attest to what these scientists are saying. There is no question, from my own observations, that students are being seriously and negatively affected. Creativity, critical thinking and abstract thinking are skills that I have seen a loss of in the past ten years. Any classroom teacher will tell you the same thing.
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@Tammy : I wasn't arguing that "technology, such as the internet (and televsion, and video games), has NOT altered human development". In fact, if you re-read the last portion of the post, you'll see that I actually find Greenfield's hypothesis plausible. My point is that Greenfield spoke out about her concerns without citing even so much as the book that John references above (thanks BTW John). As a scientist, it's her responsibility to present her concerns to society with more than a few anecdotal stories. When Bill Joy, chief scientist at Sun Microsystems sounded the alarm on robotics, genetic engineering and nanotechnology a few years ago (http://tinyurl.com/2uhkf) he did so with compelling evidence – examples that point to the legitimacy of his claims. Whether we ended up agreeing with Joy or not, at least he gave us the benefit of a reasoned argument. This was not the case with Greenfield's warning and I think we need to ask why.
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"I'm not against technology and computers. But before they start social networking, they need to learn to make real relationships with people." This is a ridiculous arguement, nine-times out of ten when kids teens etc. go to Social Networking Sites they talk mostly with their friends from school, or youth group, they already have made real relationships, if her arguement were true than phones would be equally dangerous, it's insane
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At the age of 12 (in 1976–do the math) I was diagnosed with what is now known as ADHD. In those days, it was known by the somewhat generic and off-putting acronym of MBD, for "Minimal Brain Dysfunction". This condition has profoundly impacted my life, contributing to chronic depression through much of my adolescent and adult life, and I have come to think of it as a kind of high-functioning autism.
I didn't come to this conclusion lightly. Both conditions share many symptoms, they just aren't as pronounced in ADHD as they are in autism.
Shortly after my original diagnosis, I found that a great many of my peers at school were also being treated (with Ritalin, which frankly may have saved my life). This was obviously long before the Internet, and even the first video games. I think if there is an external cause for this phenomenon of endemic attention-span shrinkage, it goes deeper than that.
I believe that this is happening not so much because of technology itself, but because of the volume and variety of information we have at our disposal. It has become considerably harder to focus on a specialty in these times, because there are so many distractions.
Some of these are obvious. As a child, there were really only a few media for personal communications: face-to-face, postal mail, and (landline!) telephone. Now, beyond these, we have wireless, e-mail, SMS, IM, social networking websites, and probably others that I'm missing. And I now totally get Marshall McLuhan's concept of the medium being the message, because I communicate with different people for different reasons using each of these tools.
The less obvious impact comes from the easy access to volumes of data. The Internet is a huge place where we can travel pretty much instantly. Instead of travelling straight from A to B, research becomes a process akin to Jeffy's meandering path home from the house across the street in The Family Circus.
There is some effort required to maintain focus. After decades of struggling, I found appropriate treatment–including medication–that has gradually led me to see that my condition isn't entirely bad. I connect to the world differently, and there are some advantages. I see patterns in data instantly, whether it be the nightly news or on the road a couple of clicks ahead.
This goes way beyond whether we let kids spend time on the Internet and use social networking. It's a fundamental question of how people are supposed to manage the mountains of information that's pushed at them on a constant basis.
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The most troublesome thing I have noticed with my Grandson is that he seems to be unable to read facial expressions. I wonder if it is because the people he is interacting with on the pc are faceless. When there is a TV or PC on in the room his eyes are always darting to them even though he is having a concersation with me. Am I that boring?
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@thunderbuck: awesome comment, thanks for posting!
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I don't care who or what Susan Greenfield is. I won't believe a word of this article unless there is real evidence that backs up this thesis.
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I find this absolutely ridiculous. To make a claim like this without any reasearch whatsoever is just stating an opinion. I'm 13 and I spend quite a bit of time on the internet on some sites like Facebook and some proboards forums. I know that I am not stupid, nor has my brain reverted to an "infant-like state". I have read many absolutely ridiculous and far-fetched things on Sympatico MSN. This one is by far the stupidest claim I have ever heard. The internet is not all sites that will have negative effect, if the internet even does.
- Connor
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