Empathy threatened by social networking

“By the middle of this century, our minds might have become infantilised - characterised by short attention spans, an inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity.” 
Susan Greenfield

Listening to BBC Radio 4's current affairs programme, Any Questions, last Friday, I was curious to know more about one of the panel, SUSAN GREENFIELD. So I went to the BBC website to find out. She is an eminent neuroscientist, a CBE, now Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford. "Her research concentrates on understanding brain functions and disorders, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, as well as the physical basis of consciousness." So she knows what she is talking about. And she has spoken out, as quoted above, about "the impact of social networking sites and the amount of time children and young people spend in front of computer screens."


Now that is really frightening stuff, especially if one reads the books around at the moment telling us just how important the nurturing of empathy will be for the future of humankind on planet earth.