Stop bashing social networks

First it was privacy concerns (not that they’ve gone away, but they aren’t front page on Google News anymore). Now, apparently, social networks, like every other bit of technology young people embrace, rot our minds. ZDNet’s Andrew Nusca summarized the report out of the UK well, finally asking, “Will Facebook infantilize the human mind?”

The key statement from the article (quoted lots of places, but worth requoting here) goes like this:

Social network sites risk infantilising the mid-21st century mind, leaving it characterised by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity, according to a leading neuroscientist…She told the House of Lords that children’s experiences on social networking sites “are devoid of cohesive narrative and long-term significance.