Facebook, Autism, and Media Fearmongering

I came across an article called “Social websites harm children’s brains” awhile back and never got around to reading it till tonight. You can find the article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites-harm-childrens-brains-Chilling-warning-parents-neuroscientist.html

The rhetoric of this article, of media fearmongers in general, is boggling. I see it with 'text-messaging ruins grammar' news pieces frequently. It almost seem as if there is a template, or formula even, to churn out articles about web 2.0 technologies: take one curmudgeonly authority, one “new” technology, add a lot of qualifiers, and voila—a new cautionary tale of woe, a lot of hot air scented with plausibility and devoid of empirical evidence.

Notice the way Greensfield’s quotes are handled. “Baroness Greenfield, an Oxford University neuroscientist and director of the Royal Institution, believes repeated exposure could effectively ‘rewrite’ the brain.” My emphasis. The next line, however, supplies a semblance of certainty: “Computer games and fast-paced TV shows were also a factor, she said.” A factor in what? The plausibility of her notion? The article references no study, no data, no evidence—only speculation.

Another quote, beginning with “My fear is that…,” confirms the Baroness’ ideas are purely speculative. “Then she argued that exposure to… could leave a generation with poor attention spans.” Again, my emphasis. If this article is the judge, Greenfield has not done any actual research on the topic. She has merely wondered about it. “I often wonder whether real conversation will give way to these sanitized and easier screen dialogues…”

Her picture’s caption is almost comical. “Professor Susan Greenfield: Concerned.” But the real treat is the bit on autism. Correlation does not equal causation. At least the ‘connection’ between autism and computers is tempered by her admission of ignorance.

Fearmongering aside, her credentials are nothing to laugh at (except maybe the royal title, tee-hee). She may very well be right. But who is to say that the changes aren’t for the better? Aren’t necessary given the acceleration of technology? If youths’ brains are being reprogrammed because of the changing environment, perhaps the old stubborn brained folks will be the ones in danger of not being able to communicate. L2Txt, Gramps.