MySpace leads a new generation of online services that allow young people to extend their social lives into a virtual realm. Recent research quoted in The Guardian shows that young people spend an average of six-and-a-half hours a day using electronic media. That's a lot of time and we have to wonder what this is doing for their social development. Clearly there are health issues - sitting at home on the sofa or in front of a screen for hours on end won't help reduce obesity. But there are other questions that I think need addressing.
For example, is living in a virtual world the same as the real one? I don't think so. Do discussions with friends on MSN and other chat rooms alter the way young people communicate when they meet each other in the real world? How do judgments about other people's emotions, needs and sensibilities change when you communicate electronically, often at great speed, in text language and in sentences rarely more than four words long?
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