Kids in general have shortened attention span. I heard in NPR a research (sorry forgot he exact source – sorry) that 7 year-old kids today have the same concentration ability as 5 year-old did 40 years ago. The main point there was all about kids not have unstructured play.

My 4 1/2 year old preferred YouTube over regular TV. He can control the pace and what he watches. Although he gets more ‘instant gratification’ he is also much more engaged and active than watching TV.

I guess the rest is all about education and parental involvement around the activities.

If there is more information being thrown everywhere, then it takes a greater skill to be able to spot the important stuff and dump the rest.

The skill of the Net generation is to be able to put an idea into a sentence – rather than 500 words! you get the idea by just looking, and the indepth analysis by clicking.

The biggest problem kids are going to get in real life, there is no ability to delete an opposing view – and how will they learn to argue their case without getting violent?

Rachel Burkot’s last blog post..How to Understand Buyer Motivation Without Telepathy: Start with Keywords

@ Andy Catsimanes – I am still laughing from your response. Can’t remember why…..just laughing.

@ Joe Hall – considering real science and research requires time to gather and observe I suspect we will have to wait for something that a ’scientist’ would accept. I’m not sure we have the patience though

@ Graham Jones – theories will abound on both sides of the argument for sure. Having been a teacher at one point in my life (before the Internet played the role it does now) I can attest to the shortened attention spans and the negative impact on the cognitive abilities of children across the board

@ Jeff I hear you for sure. I learned this morning that as a cost cutting and efficiency matter there are more weeding invitations being e-mailed. While the traditional ones are often overdone I have to say that an e-mail invite is so sterile that it takes away from the importance and depersonalizes one of the most important things many folks do

@ Nishi we are all part of the Internet generation to one degree or another I suppose.

@Brandon I have simply tried to help my kids keep the Internet in perspective. There is ALWAYS the chance to have too much of a good thing with anything. Proper perspective helps to shape action for them.

@ Nick Stamoulis – kids are definitely communicating, there is no doubt about that. The question is when does communication become a relationship and by whose definition?

Thanks to everyone for checking in

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On another note it was quite interesting to see how the Daily Mail wrote about the govt’s recent announcement of a new Digital Director. It was very dismissive and focused mainly on the £160k salary, which was actually advertised as between £80-160k – quite a difference. Alarmingly 2 out of the 57 comments praised the govt and Social Media and they were rated by readers of the Mail as poor (the only ones to be rated this way). All other comments completely dismissed Social Media. The worry is that the public (albeit Tory in this case) is starting to believe the nonsense the Mail is spouting!

Alun John’s last blog post..Beware Web Developers Who Know Nada!

Older generations remember the times that if you wanted to speak to someone it would be over the phone, mail or in person…for networking it was done in person. I think the web has helped people become (different) but better communicators. Anyway that is my 2 cents )

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While it’s obviously far too early to evaluate any long term changes in brain development resulting from the use of these applications/technologies (regardless of age), I see plenty of anecdotal evidence of interpersonal behavioral changes over the past few years that bothers me.

In business especially, I see people (but predominantly younger people) substituting texting for a phone call or personal meeting where the later is clearly necessary to deliver & receive deeper information & context than could ever be exchanged via text messages. The typical response is “why should I waste my time calling or meeting when I can just text?” The end result is that in many cases these people fall behind, or at least trail others that have developed good interpersonal social skills. And the funniest part is that they have no idea why their lack of social skills might inhibit their professional career tracks. They don’t understand the value of relationships in business, and that relationships are bonded in personal interaction.

I’ll leave it up to the researchers to determine the long-term effects of brain development / concentration / etc. but I’m with you on the issue of real relationships. Technology is great and it has many, many benefits in both personal and professional life. But let’s not forget about the need for and benefits of the development of solid social skills.

Andy Catsimanes’s last blog post..Economic Crisis Killing Your Dreams?