Sky is building her community, one post at a time

Eminent scientist Susan Greenfield suggested on the ABC’s 7:30 Report that social websites are changing children's brains and that the Internet may be linked to autism and ADHD. In fact, if you follow Greenfield’s thinking us young people should go and play outside or read a book. This seems to be a common message coming from critics of how young people use technology.

As well as arguing that the amount of time we spend in front of computers and televisions might be altering our brains, Greenfield was critical about the culture of social networking sites, saying, “what saddens me is the banality of this ‘it's all about me culture‘, where, you know, you just have to publicise you're cleaning your teeth or you're putting your socks on or whatever.” What irritates me about these claims (apart from the lack of any evidence to back them up) is that they ignore the wide range of valuable material available online. It's as if the only valid intellectual pursuit is reading books by T.S. Eliot and Shakespeare and that, conversely, the online world can only provide updates on what your friends are wearing and who they have crushes on.

Greenfield’s argument ignores websites that make classic literature available to everyone, and she ignores the amazing ways in which people are building communities online. Jane McGonigal, a leading games researcher, designs games that teach people how to work together and learn from each other, solving puzzles that require massive networks of communication and cooperation. Another game that's just started running, Ruby's Bequest, invites players to find new ways of caring for each other. As well as these games, there are thousands of sites that inform us or help us get connected, including the Inspire Foundation’s ActNow.

And, yes, sometimes we post about trivial things, and our friends Facebook feed tells us that Wayne is playing Mousehunt and Jamie doesn't like dark chocolate Kit Kats. A lot of the time when we hang out with friends—online or offline—our conversations are trivial. We talk about bad days and kittens and nothing in particular. At the same time, my friends list on Facebook keeps me updated on activist events, and if it hadn't been for livejournal (a virtual community) I would never have found friends who were willing to do something a bit different with me. If you really want young people to stop watching television and 'make their own fun', online communities can help—I never thought I'd meet people who wanted to write nearly-extinct forms of Japanese group poetry, or learn how to make a pinhole camera out of cardboard, but I found them through livejournal.

Online spaces are a good way to strengthen our communities because they are places where we can find other people who share our interests, and where we can learn new skills. Can't find anyone at school or work who's interested in helping to stop climate change? Look on ActNow! Don't know if anyone wants to do go to a protest with you, or do some performance art? Post an open invitation on your Facebook status! Want to know how to organise a sudden and artful public gathering of strangers (also known as a 'flashmob')? Search for it online!

The Internet has radically changed the range of possibilities available to us. When the Gutenberg press was invented and reading became more widespread, the same thing happened. Back then, people worried that giving the general public access to books would “undermine religious authority, demean the work of scholars and scribes, and spread sedition and debauchery” (as put by Nicholas Carr, author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google). And they were often right. Religious hierarchy was criticised, governments were questioned and the work of scholars was critiqued. Being able to print material cheaply and quickly also helped to spread the idea of democracy, and it gave groups that had been silent before the power to make themselves heard and to change the world.

I can speak more loudly now and to more people than ever before, but of course it's not just 'all about me'. It's about us. The Internet informs us and connects us to the people we already know and to people around the world. Alone, we can't change the world. As part of our many overlapping communities, online and offline, we can create a better and more beautiful world in many small ways.

How do I know this?

Carr N, 'Is Google making us stupid?', The Atlantic, www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google 2008, viewed 26 March.

Goldacre B, '”Facebook causes cancer”', Bad Science, www.badscience.net/2009/02/the-evidence-aric-sigman-ignored/ 2009, viewed 25 March.

The Institute for the Future, 'Ruby's Bequest', www.rubysbequest.org/ 2009, viewed 27 March.

'Screen culture may be changing our brains', ABC 7:30 Report, www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2009/s2521139.htm 2009, viewed 24 March.

McGonigal J, 'Why I Love Bees: a case study in collective intelligence gaming', www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/
dmal.9780262693646.199  2007, viewed 27 March.

Vinge V, Rainbows End, www.vrinimi.org/rainbowsend.html 2007, viewed 27 March.