Susan Greenfield, a professor of synaptic pharmacology at Lincoln college Oxford and director of the Royal Institution warns her research has led her to believe social networking sites are changing children's brains. One of the results of such changes is selfish young people who struggle to concentrate for longer than a few minutes at a time. Spend long with the average teenager (if you can get them to stop texting) and you will agree this is certainly true.

Whilst addressing the House of Lords she told them: "children's experiences on social networking sites are devoid of cohesive narrative and long-term significance. As a consequence, the mid-21st century mind might almost be infantilised, characterised by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity".

As a kid I enjoyed reading books, my family did not have a lot of money and the public library was free to join. The television was limited to 3 terrestrial channels and bedtime was around 8pm (we did not have to wear wellington boots all year round though). During the summer months it was still light and there was nothing better than reading a good story. My literary journey started with the Hobbit and developed from there. To this day I still enjoy reading and think nothing of turning 100 pages at a time. I really wonder if it would have been any different should the book have been a laptop and the story 'txt speak' on facebook. Actually I don't wonder and thank my lucky stars that's where I found my fun, in the cover of a good book.

Of course social networking sites, chat clients and text messaging affects and consequently effects the development of a childs brain. Professor Greenfield also speculates about the development of so called ADD (attention deficit disorder):

"It might be helpful to investigate whether the near total submersion of our culture in screen technologies over the last decade might in some way be linked to the threefold increase over this period in prescriptions for methylphenidate, the drug prescribed for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder."

It would appear she is thinking along similar lines to myself (you don't have to be a professor to work it out). She warned against:

"a much more marked preference for the here-and-now, where the immediacy of an experience trumps any regard for the consequences. After all, whenever you play a computer game, you can always just play it again; everything you do is reversible. The emphasis is on the thrill of the moment, the buzz of rescuing the princess in the game. No care is given for the princess herself, for the content or for any long-term significance, because there is none. This type of activity, a disregard for consequence, can be compared with the thrill of compulsive gambling or compulsive eating."

As to why kids (and some adults) become addicted to instant gratification she speculates:

"The sheer compulsion of reliable and almost immediate reward is being linked to similar chemical systems in the brain that may also play a part in drug addiction. We should not underestimate the 'pleasure' of interacting with a screen when we puzzle over why it seems so appealing to young people."

Surprise surprise she also warned there was a risk of loss of empathy as children read novels less:

"Unlike the computer game to rescue the princess, where the goal is to feel rewarded, the aim of reading a book is, after all, to find out more about the princess herself."

She said she found it strange that we are:

"enthusiastically embracing" the possible erosion of our identity through social networking sites, since those that use such sites can lose a sense of where they themselves "finish and the outside world begins". She claimed that sense of identity can be eroded by "fast-paced, instant screen reactions, perhaps the next generation will define themselves by the responses of others".

I personally find these trends somewhat worrying for the future of our society. It will have strong consequences on the nature of our relationships and the behavior of our children during their path through life.