Social networking sites like Facebook are killing off a generation's ability to form lasting relationships, the Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists was told.

Dr Himanshu Tyagi, a psychiatrist at West London Mental Health Trust, said social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace give members an idea that relationships are all just dust in the wind, and can be quickly formed and destroyed.
He said that teens born in 1990 or later have never known a world where you can't surf online and this gives the a distorted view of the world.

Tyagi blamed the spate of suicides in Bridgend in Wales on the fact that many of the young people had in common was their use of Internet to communicate. The fact they lived in Bridgend in Wales was a common fact that he seemed to rule out.

Online social networking was so quick that many find the real world boring and unstimulating, potentially leading to more extreme behaviour to get that sense.

As a result teens put less value on their 'real world' selves which puts them at risk of impulsive and even suicidal behaviour. Tyagi did not offer any real world data on all this. It just seemed to be a rant about the kids of today. X

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