As someone who
has been studying Virtual Social Interaction for the last 10 years I intend to
read Susan Greenfield latest book Mind Change – How digital technologies are
leaving their mark on our brains. Its publication has attracted a great deal of
media attention and today Susan Greenfield was the invited speaker at the Royal
Society of Arts, UK, the audio recording of this event is here.
The chair of
the event, Jonathan Rowson, who leads the Social Brain project at the RSA,
asked Greenfield about her vision when writing the book. By response she listed her three personal
aspirations for 'folks' of the future; a strong sense of identity, fulfillment and
that they would be useful to society, with all three achieved through
creativity. The interpretation that some have made is that Greenfield is suggesting
that the Internet is compromising creativity and therefore those aspirations.
For example, one
of the issues she raised at the RSA event is the effect that the Internet is
having on interpersonal communication skills. In an interview for Hard Talk here
with Stephen
Sakur she also addressed this issue, and in more detail. I quote
(In everyday
life) 'we’re trying to process what we’re each saying.
We’re judging from voice tone, from body language, what the person is feeling.
On the screen, those cues are not available to you. …………..So if you are
constantly rehearsing a form of communication where you don’t practice eye
contact, body language, voice tone interpretation it seems not unreasonable to
say you’re not going to be so good at those things’.
Susan Greenfield is not the first to
raise concerns on this issue; the question of whether remote interpersonal communication
mediated by a computer compromises the quality of interpersonal interaction has
been debated for over 3 decades. However, her academic discipline, neuroscience, has led
her to question the impact on the brain, as well as socially.
It is why her
book is a must read for me since I am researching from both these perspectives. I am investigating interpersonal
interaction in online forums when writing is the mode of communication, and monitoring the process neurally. Being able to interact
remotely has the potential to benefit distance education profoundly and is why
I have been beavering away at trying to understand more about the student
experience of this form of interaction.
Given the growing popularity of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) for example, as offered by Futurelearn, https://www.futurelearn.com/ it is likely to remain a topic
for debate (MOOCs rely on text based forums for social interaction)as the
answer is important. As is
evidence, and that is what I am hoping to provide. Evidence, or more
specifically the lack of it, is an area where Susan Greenfield is often
challenged see Professor Dorothy Bishop’s comments here http://deevybee.blogspot.co.uk/ and Ben Goldacre’s here .
I agree with Greenfield that it is important
to raise questions about the effect that the Internet is having on the brain,
and on our culture. I also agree with Bishop and Goldacre, evidence that is
open to review by peers should be what provides the answers. Hopefully we can address some relevant questions,
and and answers, at an upcoming
event that we are starting to plan
between the Technologies SIG and
the Neuroscience & Education SIG at BERA http://www.bera.ac.uk/ sometime
during Spring of 2015.
