Spardha Chand
Kathmandu, May 29:
Social networking sites may help people stay connected in today’s fast-paced world but they can also harm moral values, says a new study. An international team has found that social networking sites could make people indifferent to human suffering as they don’t allow time for compassion or dealing out with other people.
What’s more shocking is that the study has found that emotions linked to moral senses are slow to respond to news and events and have failed to keep up with the modern world. And according to the researchers, as activities such as reading books and meeting friends, where people can define their morals, are taken over by bits of news and fast moving social networking, the problem could become widespread. Children could be particularly vulnerable because their brains are still developing, they said. A student of Times International, Srijana Thapa said “When I chat with friends in computer I don’t realize the time and sometime I end up talking for hours and hours.” Such behavior is the hindrance for socializing and could detach one person with another.
Lead researcher Mary Helen Immordino-Yang of the University of Southern California said, “If things are happening too fast, you may not ever fully experience emotions about other people’s psychological states and that would have implications for your morality. For some kinds of thought, especially moral decision making about other people’s social and psychological situations, we need to allow for adequate time and reflection.”
