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Social media, we all know, can make you unproductive. If you’re indiscreet or offensive, it can complicate your relationships. But can it also make you downright dumb?
That’s what a new study published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface suggests. How can spending more time on Facebook or Twitter end up making us stupider?
It’s not just that all those hours clicking crops in Farmville and the like simply represnts time that could be spent, say, reading a book and actually learning something. The greater problem seems to be the human tendency to copy others.
Can You Copycat Your Way to Intelligence?
To come to this conclusion, the scientists created five artificial social networks made up of volunteers. Some connected their members in a tight net, where everyone was in contact with everyone else. Others kept the participants more separate. They then tasked the participants with answering a tricky set of brainteasers. Were those who were more socially connected more or less likely to figure out the right answers?