http://lucasmcdonnell.com/is-social-networking-making-you-stupid/ / knowledge connects people. Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:43:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= http://lucasmcdonnell.com/is-social-networking-making-you-stupid/comment-page-1/#comment-23951 Lucas McDonnell Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:41:35 +0000 http://lucasmcdonnell.com/?p=409#comment-23951 I think you're right. There are plenty of smart, lazy people out there -- many of whom I'm sure have short attention spans and love social networking sites. Claims that x (insert whatever you want here, video games, mobile phones, whatever) causes y (again insert whatever you'd like) are often pretty tough to substantiate, and require a great deal of hard science (and stats) to back up. I think you’re right. There are plenty of smart, lazy people out there — many of whom I’m sure have short attention spans and love social networking sites. Claims that x (insert whatever you want here, video games, mobile phones, whatever) causes y (again insert whatever you’d like) are often pretty tough to substantiate, and require a great deal of hard science (and stats) to back up.

]]> http://lucasmcdonnell.com/is-social-networking-making-you-stupid/comment-page-1/#comment-23899 Gamer Review Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:54:07 +0000 http://lucasmcdonnell.com/?p=409#comment-23899 Correlation does not equal causation. I think that in this example, people with low attention spans are attracted to social networking sites because they are fast, easy, and give almost instant feedback of rewards. The rewards are chatting with friends, posting pictures, ect. So maybe Dr. Greenfield is actually seeing a trend of people with low attention spans moving toward social networking. There is really no reason why social networking would make a person more "stupid". Being lazy or having short attention span is independent from IQ and smarts. Correlation does not equal causation. I think that in this example, people with low attention spans are attracted to social networking sites because they are fast, easy, and give almost instant feedback of rewards. The rewards are chatting with friends, posting pictures, ect. So maybe Dr. Greenfield is actually seeing a trend of people with low attention spans moving toward social networking. There is really no reason why social networking would make a person more “stupid”. Being lazy or having short attention span is independent from IQ and smarts.

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