since when is Facebook the gauge of all social behavior

kennyc · 10-19-2011, 05:29 AM

Internet 'may be changing brains'
By Helen Briggs Health editor, BBC News website
Surfing the web More than 100 university students were studied

Social network sites may be changing people's brains as well as their social life, research suggests.

Brain scans show a direct link between the number of Facebook friends a person has and the size of certain parts of their brain.

It's not clear whether using social networks boosts grey matter or if those with certain brain structures are good at making friends, say researchers.

The regions involved have roles in social interaction, memory and autism.

The work, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, looked at 3-D brain scans of 125 university students from London.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/hea...353397?SThisEM

HomeInMyShoes · 10-19-2011, 07:19 AM

Well it's certainly changing people's social lives. Thankfully I don't have to go over to whatshisface's house. It's such a dive and they never have any proper tea.

astrangerhere · 10-19-2011, 07:40 AM

I won't have anything to do with the social networking scene, but I can tell you that it is definitely affecting my law students. When i started teaching, I didn't have to worry about my students not being able to write in complete sentences. But now that I'm getting groups of kids who have been using twitter since their teens (where they are limited to 140 characters per post), I find an increasing number of students not being able to write in clear, concise and complete sentences. Their thought processes seem considerably more frantic as well. They have a hard time organizing thoughts and ideas in a readable manner.

kennyc · 10-19-2011, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I won't have anything to do with the social networking scene, but I can tell you that it is definitely affecting my law students. When i started teaching, I didn't have to worry about my students not being able to write in complete sentences. But now that I'm getting groups of kids who have been using twitter since their teens (where they are limited to 140 characters per post), I find an increasing number of students not being able to write in clear, concise and complete sentences. Their thought processes seem considerably more frantic as well. They have a hard time organizing thoughts and ideas in a readable manner.

Interesting, I've heard arguments on both sides of that -- some agreeing with what you say and others saying it doesn't "cross over."

Definitely an interesting aspect of technology and society.

afa · 10-19-2011, 01:16 PM

I think I would agree with the connection. Anecdotal, I know, but I've noticed that the people I know who are heavy Facebookers/texters tend to have poorer written English. Of course, this does not constitute scientific evidence, by any means.

For my part, I tend to write long form all the time. Even my text messages look like... well, more or less what you see me write around here. I find that for me to write short-hand ("hw r u doin? wanna hv coffee 2nite?") takes more effort than simply writing in full. Even the examples I just wrote took me a full 15 seconds, at least.

I find that I have to consciously tell myself to disregard my natural inclination in order to write like that. Since I don't like it, anyway, I tend to just write in full. Commas, periods, capitalizations and all. I'm the only person I know who actually uses semi-colons while texting...

phenomshel · 10-19-2011, 01:54 PM

I think it depends on what age group you are in, or were in, when you got involved with social networking and/or texting. I'm probably on every social networking site out there except for LinkedIn, and obviously, I can and do use complete sentences and (mostly) acceptable grammar and punctuation. My grammar failings can be blamed more on my regional and cultural heritage than on social networking.
But I'm also 45 years old. So again, obviously, I didn't start being involved with these types of shortened communication until well after my own patterns of communication had been formed.

Steven Lyle Jordan · 10-19-2011, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

Brain scans show a direct link between the number of Facebook friends a person has and the size of certain parts of their brain.

The regions involved have roles in social interaction, memory and autism.

In the case of those who have hundreds of Facebook friends, I wonder if those regions of the brain also have roles in self-delusion...

I also write full texts. I can't even imagine writing in text shorthand (or whatever you whipper-snappers call it).

John Carroll · 10-19-2011, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

Brain scans show a direct link between the number of Facebook friends a person has and the size of certain parts of their brain.

My teenager daughter has a super-big brain!!! Wow. That must be why she knows everything!

Shimarenda · 10-19-2011, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by afa

I'm the only person I know who actually uses semi-colons while texting...

I was about to say that I also use semicolons, but then I remembered that I don't text.

michaelryannh · 10-20-2011, 08:35 PM

And this, my friends, is why I deleted my Facebook.

I swear to you, I do not miss it one bit.

wannabee · 10-21-2011, 10:18 PM

The more friends someone has the more crap comes from their news feed and I end up turning them off. Especially my young nephews. Some 20 somethings write the worst. I just squirm reading that crap that they go on with with their mates.

xg4bx · 10-23-2011, 06:01 AM

i'm such a nerd that i proofread my text messages and correct spelling and grammar before i send them, i don't want to look ignorant.

if it weren't for cute cat pictures social networking would be useless to me. i enjoy tuning out the world quite frequently.

mpd123 · 10-23-2011, 09:33 AM

A friend of mine is a lecturer at a large local college where he teaches car mechanics and as part of the course the students have to hand in written work. i have seen some of the worst examples and they are nearly impossible to read full of text speak and some of the worst spelling that i have seen and they seem to have been written by someone who has no grasp of the english language. bearing in mind that these are young men and women who have just finished there secondary/high school education,and in a year or two will be entering the work place it is a sad state of affairs.

mick.

10-19-2011, 05:29 AM	#1
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,897 Karma: 119230421 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	since when is Facebook the gauge of all social behavior Internet 'may be changing brains' By Helen Briggs Health editor, BBC News website Surfing the web More than 100 university students were studied Social network sites may be changing people's brains as well as their social life, research suggests. Brain scans show a direct link between the number of Facebook friends a person has and the size of certain parts of their brain. It's not clear whether using social networks boosts grey matter or if those with certain brain structures are good at making friends, say researchers. The regions involved have roles in social interaction, memory and autism. The work, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, looked at 3-D brain scans of 125 university students from London. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/hea...353397?SThisEM Last edited by kennyc; 10-19-2011 at 05:34 AM.

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10-19-2011, 07:19 AM	#2
HomeInMyShoes Grand Sorcerer Posts: 19,226 Karma: 67780237 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: none	Well it's certainly changing people's social lives. Thankfully I don't have to go over to whatshisface's house. It's such a dive and they never have any proper tea.

10-19-2011, 07:40 AM	#3
astrangerhere Professor of Law Posts: 3,751 Karma: 68428716 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Chapel Hill, NC Device: Kobo Elipsa, Kobo Libra H20, Kobo Aura One, KoboMini	I won't have anything to do with the social networking scene, but I can tell you that it is definitely affecting my law students. When i started teaching, I didn't have to worry about my students not being able to write in complete sentences. But now that I'm getting groups of kids who have been using twitter since their teens (where they are limited to 140 characters per post), I find an increasing number of students not being able to write in clear, concise and complete sentences. Their thought processes seem considerably more frantic as well. They have a hard time organizing thoughts and ideas in a readable manner.

10-19-2011, 01:16 PM	#5
afa The Forgotten Posts: 1,136 Karma: 4689999 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Dubai Device: Kindle Paperwhite; Nook HD; Sony Xperia Z3 Compact	I think I would agree with the connection. Anecdotal, I know, but I've noticed that the people I know who are heavy Facebookers/texters tend to have poorer written English. Of course, this does not constitute scientific evidence, by any means. For my part, I tend to write long form all the time. Even my text messages look like... well, more or less what you see me write around here. I find that for me to write short-hand ("hw r u doin? wanna hv coffee 2nite?") takes more effort than simply writing in full. Even the examples I just wrote took me a full 15 seconds, at least. I find that I have to consciously tell myself to disregard my natural inclination in order to write like that. Since I don't like it, anyway, I tend to just write in full. Commas, periods, capitalizations and all. I'm the only person I know who actually uses semi-colons while texting...

10-19-2011, 01:54 PM	#6
phenomshel ZCD BombShel Posts: 4,793 Karma: 8293322 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: The Frozen North (aka Illinois, USA) Device: iPad, STB Kindle Oasis	I think it depends on what age group you are in, or were in, when you got involved with social networking and/or texting. I'm probably on every social networking site out there except for LinkedIn, and obviously, I can and do use complete sentences and (mostly) acceptable grammar and punctuation. My grammar failings can be blamed more on my regional and cultural heritage than on social networking. But I'm also 45 years old. So again, obviously, I didn't start being involved with these types of shortened communication until well after my own patterns of communication had been formed.

10-20-2011, 08:35 PM	#10
michaelryannh Connoisseur Posts: 57 Karma: 11966 Join Date: Oct 2011 Device: Kindle Keyboard 3G + Wifi	And this, my friends, is why I deleted my Facebook. I swear to you, I do not miss it one bit.

10-21-2011, 10:18 PM	#11
wannabee Media Bloke Posts: 2,382 Karma: 113956855 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: NSW - Australia Device: iOS	The more friends someone has the more crap comes from their news feed and I end up turning them off. Especially my young nephews. Some 20 somethings write the worst. I just squirm reading that crap that they go on with with their mates.

10-23-2011, 06:01 AM	#12
xg4bx Are you gonna eat that? Posts: 1,633 Karma: 23215128 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Phillipsburg, NJ Device: Kindle 3, Nook STG	i'm such a nerd that i proofread my text messages and correct spelling and grammar before i send them, i don't want to look ignorant. if it weren't for cute cat pictures social networking would be useless to me. i enjoy tuning out the world quite frequently.

10-23-2011, 09:33 AM	#13
mpd123 Zealot Posts: 115 Karma: 8038 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: liverpool Device: kobo glo / samsung note 10.1	A friend of mine is a lecturer at a large local college where he teaches car mechanics and as part of the course the students have to hand in written work. i have seen some of the worst examples and they are nearly impossible to read full of text speak and some of the worst spelling that i have seen and they seem to have been written by someone who has no grasp of the english language. bearing in mind that these are young men and women who have just finished there secondary/high school education,and in a year or two will be entering the work place it is a sad state of affairs. mick.

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