Facebookers are "unable to form lasting relationships"

Friends "are quickly disposed at the click of a mouse"

7 July 2008 10:03 GMT / By Katie Scott

Yet another day, yet another report on the behaviour of all of us who use social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace.

An expert has warned that the Facebook generation is unable to form lasting relationships and are at increased risk of behaving impulsively.

Dr Himanshu Tyagi, a psychiatrist at West London Mental Health Trust, told the Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists that people who visit social networking websites have got used to the idea that relationships can be formed and destroyed quickly and easily.

He said: "This is the age group involved with the Bridgend suicides and what many of these young people had in common was their use of internet to communicate".

"It's a world where everything moves fast and changes all the time, where relationships are quickly disposed at the click of a mouse, where you can delete your profile if you don't like it and swap an unacceptable identity in the blink of an eye for one that is more acceptable."

"People used to the quick pace of online social networking may soon find the real world boring and unstimulating, potentially leading to more extreme behaviour to get that sense."

Tyagi also warned that people who socialise online all of the time, will sometimes find their "real-world" self affected - as they forget the physical clues involved with communication including body language, tone of voice and facial expressions.

"If you can't see the person's expression or body language or hear the subtle changes in their voice, it shapes your perceptions of the interaction differently", explains Tyagi.

"The new generation raised alongside internet is attaching an entirely different meaning to friendship and relations, something we are largely failing to notice."

"This is definitely a line of reasoning that warrants more investigation and research", he said.

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