I recently read the article “This is your brain on social media” and found it interesting, but I’m not sure I believe most of it. The
author claims that social media is rewiring our brains, which is true, but
maybe not to the extent that is suggested in this article. Here is my
breakdown:
We’re becoming dumber:
I spend a lot of time on social media sites, including conducting research on
social media use among health care professionals. I do not believe the
statement “their brains are more numb than that of a pot smoker.” More research
is definitely needed on this. I could see how multitasking and participating/being
active in several social media accounts at once could do this, but it seems
only temporary at best. Research has suggested that multitasking negatively
affects the brain, causing disorientation and lack of focus. Also, citing
research from 2005? Please. Let’s get some updated information here because popular
sites such Twitter were not even around until 2006. Also, the public was not
utilizing social media the same in 2005 as they are today.
We get bored more
easily: Well this I believe. I think it is because we as a society are so
used to be connected to others that when we are not, we don’t know what to do
with our time. Easy enough to consider. Moving on….
We are less satisfied:
I would hope that people are less satisfied by connecting/conversing with
people online then they would in real life. Several factors are involved in
communication including tone, body language, facial expressions, etc. Most of
these factors are missing with online communication which is why it would make
sense that people are not as satisfied with an online conversations in
comparison to face to face.
We are becoming more
partisan: I agree with this to an extent. I think this statement forgets to
consider factors such as age, education level, access to internet, and so on. For
example, some of my dance students who are around 10 years old believe what
they read in online news. They do not question what they read or research
opposing viewpoints. They do not understand that sites such as Google and
Facebook select content that they think would be of interest to the individual.
However, these are kids who are at a lower level of education and a lower level
of online freedom/access. Now if adults believe and quote everything they read
online without learning about opposing views, well…hmmm…how to word this nicely….that’s
just ridiculous.
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