社交網站培育出自戀的一代

Facebook and Twitter have created a generation obsessedwith themselves, who have short attention spans and a childlike desire for constant feedback on their lives, a top scientist believes.

一位頂尖科學家認爲，Facebook和Twitter令新一代人變得自戀、注意力短暫，而且像小朋友那樣，渴望得到別人對他們生活的持續迴應。

Repeated exposure to social networking sites leaves users with an 'identity crisis', wanting attention in the manner of a toddlersaying: 'Look at me, Mummy, I've done this.'

長時間沉迷在社交網絡裏使用戶們產生了“身份認同危機”，就像一個渴望被注意的幼童那樣呼喚着：“媽媽，看，我做了這個！”

Baroness Greenfield, professor of pharmacologyat Oxford University, believes the growth of internet 'friendships' – as well as greater use of computer games – could effectively 'rewire' the brain.

牛津大學藥理學教授貝洛尼斯 格林菲爾德認爲，網絡“友誼”的增長以及電腦遊戲的風行，會有效地“改裝”人的大腦。

This can result in reduced concentration, a need for instant gratificationand poor non-verbalskills, such as the ability to make eye contact during conversations.

這會導致人的注意力縮短，得到即時滿足的需求增加，非語言表達能力變差，比如在對話過程中的眼神交流能力。

More than 750million people across the world use Facebook to share photographs and videos and post regular updates of their movements and thoughts. Millions have also signed up to Twitter, the 'micro-blogging' service that lets members circulateshort text and picture messages about themselves.

全世界有7.5億多人用Facebook來分享照片、視頻，定期更新他們的行蹤和思緒。還有上百萬人註冊了微博Twitter，可以在上面發佈與自己有關的短信息和照片。

Baroness Greenfield, former director of research body the Royal Institution, said: 'What concerns me is the banalityof so much that goes out on Twitter.

貝洛尼斯 格林菲爾德曾是英國皇家學院研究機構的主任，他說：“令我擔憂的是Twitter上充斥着太多的陳詞濫調。”

'Why should someone be interested in what someone else has had for breakfast? It reminds me of a small child (saying): “Look at me Mummy, I'm doing this”, “Look at me Mummy I'm doing that”.

“別人早飯吃了什麼，這有什麼好值得感興趣的？這讓我想起一個小孩一會兒說：‘看我，媽媽，我正在做這個’，一會兒又說‘看我，媽媽，我在做那個’。

'It's almost as if they're in some kind of identity crisis. In a sense it's keeping the brain in a sort of time warp.'

“他們好像陷入了某種身份認同危機。從某種意義上說，這似乎讓他們的大腦產生了時間錯位。”

The academic suggested that some Facebook users feel the need to become 'mini celebrities' who are watched and admired by others on a daily basis. They do things that are 'Facebook worthy' because the only way they can define themselves is by 'people knowing about them'.

這位學者暗示有的Facebook用戶們想要變成“微名人”，成天被他人注目，受他人羨慕。他們做着一些“在Facebook上有價值”的事情，因爲他們定義自己的唯一方式就是“讓人們認識自己”。

'It's almost as if people are living in a world that's not a real world, but a world where what counts is what people think of you or (if they) can click on you,' she said.

她說：“人們似乎不是活在真實的世界裏，而是活在一個只有別人如何看待你或是否會點擊你的頁面才重要的世界裏。”

'Think of the implications for society if people worry more about what other people think about them than what they think about themselves.'

“如果人們擔憂別人怎麼看待自己要比自己怎麼看待自己來得更多，想想這將給社會帶來什麼影響。”