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If there is a problem with Susan Greenfield's position it seems to be more to do with language she uses that anything else. What she seems to be saying is "if people do X then Y will happen - and I am calling "Y" damage because I don't like it". Brain plasticity is the non-contentious part of what she is saying - if young people spend 40% of their time doing A, the patterns of synaptic firing that become established will be different from the patterns of synaptic firing that become established of they don't spend 40% of their time doing A - if you practice playing scales on violin for two hours a day you will get much better at playing scales on violin than if you don't practice.
Doing the things that young people do will make their brains different from how they would have been if they didn't do those things. The contentious issue is what is the nature of those differences and how they cash out in terms of what they mean for the people whose brains have so developed.
Ben Goldacre used to be good - I suspect he has got himself trapped in having to produce copy for his various columns and his blog and as a consequence he is less good than he was.
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