Does Technology Stunt Children’s Social Development?
An increasing number of top scientists and researchers are questioning the effects on children of spending excessive amounts of time using modern technology, particularly social networking websites and cellphone text messaging and their influence on the formation of basic skills of human interaction. Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield of Oxford University detailed her concerns regarding social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter to the United Kingdom Parliament. Baroness Greenfield said that while social networking websites give the user a feeling of acceptance, she worried that the activity distanced children “from the stress of face-to-face, real-life conversation.” Online, children and teenagers can have hundreds of “friends” without having to leave their home or open their mouths. “Real-life conversations,” Baroness Greenfield continued, “are, after all, far more perilous than those in the cyber world. They occur in real time, with no opportunity to think up clever
