A new study has found that people who spend the most time browsing social media, especially Facebook, showed some traits similar to those of the autism spectrum disorder, including an inability to read facial emotions.
The study, by the University of the Sunshine Coast, compared 200 people who grew up without Facebook to those who had social media as a part of their lives growing up.
Senior psychology lecturer Dr Rachael Sharman said the findings, although not surprising, were worrying.
"What we found is that the generation that grew up with Facebook were scoring in the autism level and were bad at recognising the correct emotion,"
They also had fewer friends and they had poorer friendship quality, which lead onto poorer psychological well-being."
Similar research has been conducted in the United Kingdom and France with the same findings.
The other fall-out from electronic exposure and our digital footprint is the concept of “social cooling”
If you feel you are being watched, you change your behaviour. Big Data is supercharging this effect.
This could limit your desire to take risks or exercise free speech. Over the long term these 'chilling effects' could 'cool down' society.
Social pressure is the most powerful and most subtle form of control
Tijmens Chep coined the term “social cooling” to help a wider audience understand the long-term negative side-effects of living in a Big Data society. The issue is that digital systems greatly amplify social pressure, which could lead to more conformity.
“Like oil leads to global warming …Data leads to social cooling”
Here’s a summary from Tijmens Chep on how this works:
1. Your data is collected and scored. Then data brokers use algorithms to reveal thousands of private details about you—friends and acquaintances, religious and political beliefs, educational background, sexual orientation,
29