How Not to Argue the Effects of Social Networking
Posted on January 27, 2008
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OMG! Have you ever wanted to shout at a computer screen? To scream at a page’s author across space and time and just yell “No!” This morning I’m in a rage about a totally crappy article published in the Telegraph. Dr. Aric Sigman is totally off his academic rocker. Among his claims:
- 25% of five year olds own a computer
- There is a direct correlation between time spent watching “screens” (he doesn’t differentiate between computer and TV) and school shootings, suicide, loneliness and depression
- Parents who like the same music as their kids are contributing to abnormality and antisocial behavior
Oh boy! Where do I begin?
First, Sigman cites stat after stat in the beginning of the article without citing a source. One can only hope that he’s not pulling these from the ten-year old “Internet Paradox” study that he uses for the rest of his argument. Yes, TEN years! The study by Kraut et al (see citation below) has even been questioned by its own authors and admitted to be only a rudimentary effort to explain early effects of the internet on the social lives of users. Their follow up study three years later basically disproved their early findings and created new gaps in the study. It’s just sloppy for Sigman to cite the 1998 article as any kind of credible study. It’s irrelevant to today’s internet usage and even the authors of the study have argued against their own early findings.
Second, Sigman who researches television watching patterns and that medium’s effect, doesn’t differentiate between television, a one-way medium, and the internet, a many-to-many medium in his discussions of “screens.” There’s a massive difference between sitting passively watching tv and being engaged in an MMORPG, chat room, IM, blog etc. Findings from one medium are about as applicable to other as comparing effects of cans on string and cell phones.
Finally, Sigman’s approach completely ignores the benefits for families who use the internet together. He assumes that all internet users are mole-like people who stare into a screen in total isolation and that children who use online technologies, like Webkins etc, don’t share those experiences with their parents and siblings.
This is an old, uninformed argument. The same anti-social argument has been made for writing (Aristotle), telephones, television…you name it. We could even say that home air conditioners, which caused folks to spend their evenings inside instead of on their front porch, are anti-social inventions.
What’s the point? Researchers have a responsibility to be far more informed than Sigman displays in this Telegraph piece.
Kraut, R., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V., Kiesler, S., Mukopadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. (1998). Internet Paradox: A Social Technology That Reduces Social Involvement and Psychological Well-Being? American Psychologist, 53(9), 1017-1031.
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4 Responses to “How Not to Argue the Effects of Social Networking”
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You sound surprised! Go back in history and you’ll find fear as the key factor in fighting any new technology. Edison filmed the electrocution of an elephant to fight adoption of alternating current.
If you can’t stop widespread adoption through personal fear, there’s only one step further - the fear you can put in parents.
It’s yellow journalism at it’s best, and newspapers reap any (if any) rewards by reporting crap like this.
The good doctor’s website is very revealing - readers might like to have a look at http://www.aricsigman.com
His holiday photos are especially good.
Let it go. You can’t fight nonsense with reason. Put your energy where it will do the most good. Like railing intelli(girl)gently against Kirschner, Sweller & Clark and similar defenders in the towers.
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