I noticed this short news article about how a British Neuroscientist is concerned that Social Networks such as Facebook, MySpace, et al can permanently alter the minds of young people.

Greenfield said while the government was looking into issues around online child safety and privacy, the issue of how sites such as Bebo and MySpace were changing young people’s minds had not yet been addressed.

One of the concerns… was that their minds would be ‘infantilised’, and suffer with short attention spans, sensationalism and an inability to empathise.

Sense of identity would also be questioned by those growing up online, where sites encourage them to build personal profiles.

Although there’s not much more information on the original article, Google News search shows a variety of reactions with the Chicago Tribune posting a interesting article.