Is Twitter evil?
Researchers probing the workings of the brain have found that it takes longer for feelings of social compassion and admiration to register on our neural circuits - and they worry that the rapid-fire effect of texting and tweeting could have “potentially negative consequences” for our moral fiber.
The findings serve as fresh fuel for the debate over social networking’s effect on the human psyche: Just this month, we’ve seen how social-network surfers can improve their office productivity, help catch criminals or head off a potential suicide (with an assist from celebrity Demi Moore!). We’ve also heard about Twitter torments, Facebook failures and social-network stress.
The brain-scan study, conducted by scientists at the University of Southern California and due for publication online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, takes a different perspective.
What do you think?