"Web 2.0 自杀机"教你瞬间脱离社交网络

If your online life is taking over your real life, it could be time to erase yourself from the internet.

A Dutch company has made a programme which can destroy all posts and personal information from your Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter accounts.

The advantage of the tastefully-named Web 2.0 Suicide Machine is its speed.

Instead of spending nearly ten hours erasing things manually, you can go offline in just 52 minutes.

Some 3,000 people have already used the free programme, with another 90,000 on the waiting list. You hand over your passwords and watch as your Tweets and Facebook friends disappear - until there's just an empty screen.

Last month, one of the country's most eminent brain scientists warned that an obsession with social networking sites and computer games may be changing the way people’s minds work.

Oxford University expert Susan Greenfield believes constant computer and internet use may be ‘rewiring the brain’, shortening attention spans, encouraging instant gratification and causing a loss of empathy.

She said: ‘For me, this is almost as important as climate change.

‘Whilst of course it doesn’t threaten the existence of the planet like climate change, I think the quality of our existence is threatened – and the kind of people we might be in the future.’

The neuroscientist believes technology may be behind the ‘alarming’ rise in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and the growth in the use of anti-hyperactivity drug Ritalin.

But Baroness Greenfield said that although benefits of playing computer games may include a higher IQ and better memory, social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook may hamper empathy.

Using search engines to find facts may hinder our ability to learn, while computer games in which it is always possible to start again, may make us more reckless.

如果你沉溺于网络生活，而忽略了现实世界，那你真该在互联网隐退了。

荷兰一家公司最新研制出一款程序，可销毁用户在Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace和Twitter账户中的所有帖子和个人信息。

这款名为“Web 2.0 自杀机”的程序以速度著称。

该软件可在52秒内让用户彻底“下线”，而手工清除信息耗时近10小时。

约有3千名用户已体验了这款免费程序，另有9万名用户还处于申请阶段。用户提交密码即可看到Tweets和Facebook账户内好友消失，直至清屏。

荷兰一位著名脑部科学家上月提醒称，沉溺于社交网站和电脑游戏可能改变人的思维方式。

牛津大学专家苏珊•格林菲尔德认为，持续使用电脑和网络会“重装大脑”、使人注意力不集中、鼓励“即时满足”、并使人丧失与他人的共鸣。

她说：“对我来说，这和气候变化一样重要。”

“这当然不会像气候变化那样威胁地球的生存，但我想这威胁到了人类的生活质量，以及人类的未来。”

这位神经学家认为，科技正是多动症患者人数、以及抗多动症药物利他林使用量飙升的幕后黑手。

但格林菲尔德女爵称，尽管玩电脑游戏有可能提高智商并增强记忆力，但Twitter和Facebook等社交网站却会阻碍人们之间的情感共鸣。

使用搜索引擎查找信息会阻碍我们的学习能力，总可以重新开始的电脑游戏会使人做事更鲁莽。

Vocabulary:

instant gratification: 即时满足，希望自己的愿望马上得到满足。

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: 多动症，注意力缺陷障碍

Baroness: 男爵夫人，女爵