Over exposure to online time cause brain damage among teens, study shows

Social media has a positive effect on children and teens, whether by teaching social skills, strengthening relationships or just fun however, persistent use of these social platforms can also have a negative impact, particularly on the mental health and well-being of young users.

A new study conducted in the United States by researchers from the University of North Carolina had about 200 students enrolled in the research and results show that such teens undergo brain changes which result in longing for social rewards and punishment from strangers online.

The research revealed that teens who engaged in the study frequently checked their Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram accounts.

According to the study, these changes occur in parts of the brain that affect one’s thought process, their motivation in life and one that affects their salience.

“These results suggest that habitual checking of social media in early adolescence may be longitudinally associated with changes in neural sensitivity to anticipation of social rewards and punishments which could have implications for psychological adjustment,” the study said.

University of Northern Carolina lead co-author Mitch Prinstein highlighted that most children start to use smartphones at an important time for their brain development.

“Our research demonstrates that checking behaviors on social media could have long standing and important consequences for adolescents’ neural development which is critical for parents and policy-makers to consider when understanding the benefits and potential harms associated with teen technology use,” Prinstein said.

Study reveals that excess internet use has been associated with a higher risk for depression and anxiety, and can make one feel isolated and/or overwhelmed.

According to a 2018 report issued by theGlobal WebIndex, people aged 16 to 24 spend an average of three hours and one minute using social media each day.

However, research reported in the journal Jama Psychiatry found that adolescents who use social media more than three hours per day “may be at heightened risk of mental health problems, particularly internalizing problems.”

In a recent study, researchers at the UCLA brain mapping centre used an fMRI scanner to image the brains of 32 teenagers as they used a bespoke social media app resembling Instagram. By watching the activity inside different regions of the brain as the teens used the app, the team found certain regions became activated by ‘likes’ with the brain’s reward center becoming especially active.

“When teens learn that their own pictures have supposedly received a lot of likes, they show significantly greater activation in parts of the brain’s reward circuitry,” says lead author Laurn Sherman.

The teenagers were shown more than 140 images where ‘likes’ were believed to from their peers, but were in fact assigned by the research team.

Social media affects the brain, particularly its plasticity, which is the way the brain grows and changes after experiencing different things.