Facebook et al risk 'infantilising' the human mind | Media | guardian.co.uk:
"She also warned against 'a much more marked preference for the here-and-now, where the immediacy of an experience trumps any regard for the consequences. After all, whenever you play a computer game, you can always just play it again; everything you do is reversible. The emphasis is on the thrill of the moment, the buzz of rescuing the princess in the game. No care is given for the princess herself, for the content or for any long-term significance, because there is none. This type of activity, a disregard for consequence, can be compared with the thrill of compulsive gambling or compulsive eating."Yes, of course, Lady Greenfield... game playing is despicable... the thrill of the moment. The lack of long term significance. And shocking when you consider that human beings haven't been playing games for hundreds and hundreds of years. Oh... ermmm... slight flaw in the argument...
She goes on to say...
"She said she feared "real conversation in real time may eventually give way to these sanitised and easier screen dialogues, in much the same way as killing, skinning and butchering an animal to eat has been replaced by the convenience of packages of meat on the supermarket shelf. Perhaps future generations will recoil with similar horror at the messiness, unpredictability and immediate personal involvement of a three-dimensional, real-time interaction."Isn't that just a fabulous quote? Comparing real conversation with butchery. Fan-tas-tic!
Coupled with Twitter giving you cancer. Hasn't this just been a splendid news week for social technologies? If you're after a list of other 'interesting' things that'll give you cancer... take a look at this from the Daily Dust. :o)
