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the_ignored
SFN Addict
2562 Posts |
 Posted - 01/25/2009 : 02:04:55
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Somehow, I doubt that this is good news.
Gary Small, a neuroscientist at UCLA in California who specializes in brain function, has found through studies that Internet searching and text messaging has made brains more adept at filtering information and making snap decisions.
But while technology can accelerate learning and boost creativity it can have drawbacks as it can create Internet addicts whose only friends are virtual and has sparked a dramatic rise in Attention Deficit Disorder diagnoses.
Small, however, argues that the people who will come out on top in the next generation will be those with a mixture of technological and social skills. |
That's right...I still have to learn social skills. Damnit....
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>From: enuffenuff@fastmail.fm
(excerpt follows):
> I'm looking to teach these two bastards a lesson they'll never forget.
> Personal visit by mates of mine. No violence, just a wee little chat.
>
> **** has also committed more crimes than you can count with his
> incitement of hatred against a religion. That law came in about 2007
> much to ****'s ignorance. That is fact and his writing will become well
> know as well as him becoming a publicly known icon of hatred.
>
> Good luck with that fuckwit. And Reynold, fucking run, and don't stop.
> Disappear would be best as it was you who dared to attack me on my
> illness knowing nothing of the cause. You disgust me and you are top of
> the list boy. Again, no violence. Just regular reminders of who's there
> and visits to see you are behaving. Nothing scary in reality. But I'd
> still disappear if I was you.
What brought that on? this. Original posting here.
Another example of this guy's lunacy here. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2009 : 02:56:22 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by the_ignored
That's right...I still have to learn social skills. Damnit....
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That's not fair!
Seriously, I've been using the Internet, especially SFN, to hone my brain ever since my 2004 stroke. I think I'd be in much worse shape without it. And I am getting out and being social more now, too -- thanks to contacts I've made online.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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scarlet_35
New Member
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2009 : 19:51:08 [Permalink]
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| I have also become more social from my internet friendships, it sure helps when you can talk to people that think on the same lines as you do and the internet makes it a lot easier to find such people. |
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chaloobi
SFN Regular
1620 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2009 : 06:18:14 [Permalink]
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I'm going to guess we're all addicts.
Regarding ADD, maybe the problem really isn't the kids with ADD but the adults without it. The kids jump quickly from idea to idea and the adults can't keep up, teach too slowly, and get frustrated. Then they dope the kids up with drugs to slow them down to adult speed. |
-Chaloobi
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2009 : 08:48:43 [Permalink]
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Yeah, internet tends to promote ADD (I have three programs running righ now, I am alternating between, and just about a dozen tabs open in firefox.
I rarely type a paper anymore without having an internet browsed open to glance at between paragraphs, and, of course, MSN is always connected so, I can be interrupted at any minutes...
As for Scarlet's:
| I have also become more social from my internet friendships, it sure helps when you can talk to people that think on the same lines as you do and the internet makes it a lot easier to find such people. |
This might also become a problem, as it does not force you to meet different view points.
Not only this comfort your viewpoints and has been shown to drive people toward more extremist positions, it also tends to weaken our patience and ability to deal with confronting ideas...
I still love it though and am just as addicted as any of you, but critics do exists and may have valid points. |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2009 : 10:42:17 [Permalink]
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Oh well. Every good thing has a downside. Having so much information at our fingertips and a community to share it with, a community that couldn't have existed on such a global scale just a few years ago, is certainly an upside. I have met, in person, many people that I wouldn't have known, or would have had no contact with, virtual or not, if it were not for the internet.
As it happens, I met Michelle, first, in a chat room.
I may be an internet addict. I don't know. But I know this place, SFN, has been a positive influence in my life.
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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scarlet_35
New Member
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2009 : 20:20:36 [Permalink]
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As for Scarlet's:
| I have also become more social from my internet friendships, it sure helps when you can talk to people that think on the same lines as you do and the internet makes it a lot easier to find such people. |
This might also become a problem, as it does not force you to meet different view points.
Not only this comfort your viewpoints and has been shown to drive people toward more extremist positions, it also tends to weaken our patience and ability to deal with confronting ideas...
I still love it though and am just as addicted as any of you, but critics do exists and may have valid points.
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That's a very good point, I have been accused of giving people a look that says "you're stupid" but in all fairness that look is generally justified.
I will admit I'm addicted to the internet, to a point. I like coming on here to relax, meet new people, get new ideas etc.. but outside of the computer I have a variety of friends, some of which do have a religious belief and occasionally they feel the need to pray for me.
Like Kil said, if it weren't for the internet I would never have met so many people that live in different countries and to me that is totally awesome. |
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Internet affecting human brains?
