Well connected
Text Well connected? The biological implications of "socialnetworking", T ext 4b (Reading texts pp. 156-160)
Text 4b is an article from The Biologist on the effect of social networking on face-to-facecontact. You will u the text to carry out further lective summarising practice. Most of your note-taking will be from memory.丁卜is is to encourage you to make brief notes in your own words. This should help you develop a better understanding of the key points of the text, as well as encouraging you to write the summary in your own words and avoid plagiarising ctionsof the text. After making the notes, you will again be given an opportunity to check the textand revi the notes.
Task 5Considering the title and abstract
5.1 Analy the title of Text 4b. Discuss questions 1-3 with other students.
1 .What do you understand by the term social networking?
2. How are you involved with social networking, if at all?
3 .Does your idea of networking correspond with the following dictionary definition?
5.2Analy the opening summary for Text 4b.
Why do you think some phras in the text have been highlighted?
One of the most pronounced changes in the daily habits of British citizens is a reduction In the number of minutes per day that they interact with another human being. Recent history has en people in marked retreat from one another as Britain moves from a culture of greater common experience to a society of more isolated experience. She Is in good company,as Americans too step back from one another in unprecedented magnitude.
5.3 Analy phras from the: opening summary.
a Discuss the meaning of each phra with another student, or work alone.
b Complete the table below by explaining, in your own wards, themeaning of each phra.
c Answer the questions below.
1.What does they refer to in the cond line?
2. What does She refer to in the final ntence?
Task 6 Reading and making notes
6.1 Read Section 1 of the text without stopping.
a. Without looking back at the text, list the examples of how or whypeople in Britain and America are stepping "back from one another inunprecedented magnitude".
b. Compare your list with that of another student.
6.2Look at Figure 1 and discuss the questionsbelow.
a. What very obvious trend do you notice?
b. In which year did the difference betweensocial interaction and electronic mediau completely rever?
Study tip: Graphs, tables and charts cansummari key informationin a very economical way,Remember to look at themcarefully.
6.3 Read Section Eye and earconlact, without stopping and thensteps a-c without looking back at the text.
a. Write down what you think the subheading Eye and ear contact refer to..
B.Write notes bad on what you recall from the text.
c. Check the text; decide if there arc any extra points you should record in your notes.
Task 7 Making notes and drawing conclusions
7.1 Read Section 3, Morbidity.
When you have fioislled reading, write clown in no more than two ntenceswhy experts emphasi the importance of maintaining (or regaining) aculture of greater common experience.
7.2 Read Section 4, Marriage and cohabitation. When you finish this ctioncomplete steps a-c.
a. Make notes from memory, as in earlier tasks.
b. With other students, discuss what main point is being made in thisction.
c. Write a summary of the main point in one ntence.
7.3 Read Section 5, Conclusion, without stopping.
a. Make a note of the key points from memory.
b. On completing your notes, decide whether you personally are concerned about any of the issues discusd in the text.
c. With other students, discuss any concerns you have.
Task 8 Writing a summary
8.1 Re-read the opening Summary at the beginning of Text 4b. What do you now understand by the question Well connected? in the title?
8.2 Write a test of no more than 150 words summarising the biological implications of "social network
ing".
When you have finished, you will be able to compare your summary with anexample supplied by your teacher.
Note: Your teachel' may now decide to spend more time looking at the textin order to focus on some of the vocabulary, text structure and academicst5rle that may be uful for you to study.
Key reading skills:Writing a summary of the text
Summarising a text involves answering the question: Whatkeyideas does the writerwant to communicate? A summary does not have to be long and should not includetoo much detail.
T ext 4b well connected? The biological implications of ”social networking"
One of the most pronounced changes in the daily habits of British citizens is a reduction in tf}e number of minutes per day that they interact with another human being. Recent history has en people in marked retreat from one another as Britain moves from a culture of greater common experience to a society of more isolated experience. She is in good company, as Americans too step back from one another in unprecedented magnitude.
Aric Sigman
Social scientists reportde in 2006 that fewer than two decades "the number of people saying there is no one with whom they discuss important matters nearly tripled”.The number of both kin and non-kin confidants is described as "dramlatically smaller”(McPherson，Smith-Loven, ＆Brashears, 2006). A 2003 report by the UK's Office for National Statistics (Ruston, 2003)found that Britons now spent approximately 50 minutes a day interacting socially with other people. Couples now spend less time in one another's company and more time at work, commuting, or in the same hou but in parate rooms using different electronic media devices. Parents spend less time with their children than they did only a decade ago. Britain has the lowest proportion of chil山en in all of Europe who eat with their parents at the taL}le. The proportion of people who work on their own at home continues to ri. The report went on to say that in the 20 years to 2003, "the proportion of people living alone doubled:- a trend highly pronounced in the 25- 44 age group. For the first time in our history a third of the adults in this country live alone, a trend that looks t to continue.
Figure 1. The amount of face-to-face social interaction declines as u of electronic media increas. The trends are predicted to increa (data abstracted from a ries of time-u and
demographic studies).
Britain's disinclination for togetherness is only ecjua1led by her veneration of comm unicating through new technologies. The rapid proliferation of electronic media is now m aking private space available in almost every sphere of the individual's.
life. Yet this is now the most significcant Contributing factor to society’s growing physical estrangement (e Figure 1). Wnether in or out of the home, more people of all ages in tile UK
are physically and socially dingaged from the people around them becau they are wearing earphones, talking or texting on a mobile telephone, or using a laptop or Blackberry. US Senator Carl Kruger described how people walking around "tuned in" were, in the process of being tuned in, being "tuned out" to the world around them. The malady is referred to as "iPod oblivio n".
Eye and ear contact
C1lildren now spend more time in the family alone in front of TV/computer screens than doing anything el (Sibman, 2007). A 2008 study (Childwi, 2008) reports that25% of Gritish five-year-olds oen computer or laptop of their own. In particular, the study noted an enormouts increa in "social networrking" among younger children which had overtaken fun (online games) as the main reason to u the Internet. Time that was previously spent interacting socially has increasingly been displaced by the virtual variety. A 2008 editorial in the .l ourna} o f the Roycel Socie。)o f Medicine (Abbasi，2008) made the timely point that social networking”encourages us to ignore the social networks that form in our non-virtual communities”,and argued that”the time we spend socialising ele
ctronically parates us from our physical networks”. But why precily should physicians be concerned about the changes in people’s actual contact and interaction with one another? One reason is that social connection is increasingly associated with physiological changes known to influnce both morbidity (the incidence of dia in the population) and mortality (the death rate).
Morbidity
According to the Oxford English Dictionary morbidity refers to”the rate of dia, or a specific dia，in a population”. Several decades of rearch have found that greater social contact is related to reduced morbidity while fewe:contacts lead to incread morbidity. This relationship is valid independent of the individual’s earlier health status.
Rutledge et al. (2008) reported that women with fewer social relationships experienced strokes at more than twice the rate of tho with more social relationships after adjusting for other possible medical reasons for strokes,A further study on strokes, involving experiments on male and female mice，reported that social interaction reduced concentrations of a protein linkeu with strokes, and decread theamount of damage to body tissue caud by the inflow of blood during a stroke.
Loneliness is found to be a unique predictor of age-related differences in blood pressure when the h
eart is pumping blood. And blood pressure for married adults-especially tho happily married-declines more during sleep than for single people who may therefore be at much greater risk of problems with the heart and blood vesls，In one experiment, in which men were challenged in order to increa their blood pressure，it was found that blood pressure returned to baline levels more quickly in the men with more clo friends.
The incidence of nile dementia (Alzheimer's dia)-rious mental disorder in older people-is expected to double within a generation，and rearch conducted by Harvard University’s School of Public Health(Ertel et al., 2008) examined the influence of social integration, including frequency of social interaction, on changes in memory in 16,63 8 subjects aged 50 and older. The study concluded that the rate of memory loss among the least-integrated was twice the rate of loss among the most-integrated. Others report that the frequency of social interaction is inverly related to the incidence of dementia and may protect against dementia.
A positive relationship between the sheer amount of regular actual social contact and cognitive functioning has,however, been found in a variety of age groups including
younger adults. Most interesting is the study byYbarra et al. (2008) in which participants who interact
ed socially for. only 10 minutes Showed improved cognitive performance, performance equivalent to that displayed by partcipants engaged in so-called intellectual activities, The authors believe the results show not only that the effect is causal but also that the process is very nsitive to only small amounts of social interaction. They conclude: "Social interaction directly affects memory and mental performance in a positive way.”
Marriage and cohabitation
Ruston(2003)reports that the long-recognid protective effect of marriage against suicide has persisted over the past 25 years，despite changes in marriage patterns. Between 1983 and 2004，suicide rates for single people were around three times higher than for married people. For single women，the differential compared with married women widened from just over two times to three times.Unfortunately, our marriage rate is at an all-time low.
Statistics indicate that the protective effects conferred by marriage are cumulative, as are the harmful effects of years being divorced (Lund et al., 2006).
Conclusion
while the preci mechanisms underlying the association between social connection, morbidity and mortality continue to be investigated，it is clear that this is a growing public health issue for all industrialid countries.Kraut et a,(1998),a detailed classic study of 73 families who ud the Internet for communication (the”Internet paradox" study)，concluded that greater u of the Internet was associated with declines in communication between family members In the houhold，declines in the size of their social circle, and increas in their levels of depression and loneliness. The study went on to report "both social dingagement and worning and limited face-to-face poor quality of life and diminished physical and psychological health".
Children are now experiencing less social interaction and have fewer social connections during key stages of their Physiological,emotional and social development. An increasing proportion of men and women are living alone during Their”mating years”,having far fewer social contacts，And as the greying of the population continues，the incidence and effects of social isolation become ever more pronounced，Biologists can play a pivotal role in addressing the issues，By making the abstract concept of social connection and its effects more concrete and measurable，biology may finally provide the key to public awareness.Pres id ing over a
Their”mating years” having far fewer social contacts. And as the greying of the population continues,t
he incidence and effects of social isolation become ever more pronounced.Biologists can play a pivotal role in addressing the issues.By making the abstract concept of social connection and its effects more concrete and measurable，biology may finally provide the key to public awareness，Presiding over a growing body of evidence, biologists should now explain the true meaning of the term "social networking".
