Researchers have found a correlation between teenagers' excessive use of social media and adverse effects on brain development.
Adolescents' heightened sensitivity to the anticipation of social rewards and punishments may be a long-term effect of the growing use of social media. This is based on a study published in JAMA Pediatrics on Tuesday, Jan. 3, The Independent reports.
Co-author Eva Telzer from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill remarked that the results indicate youngsters who grow up checking social media more regularly are becoming hypersensitive to comments from their peers.
Early-stage Experimentation
Over the course of three years, researchers followed around 170 middle schoolers from public schools in rural North Carolina.
At the outset of the study, researchers recorded how frequently individuals reported using three of the most popular social media sites: Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. The responses range from less than once per day to more than 20 times per day.
After completing a social incentive delay task, which analyzes brain activity while waiting for peer feedback, individuals received annual brain imaging scans to continue the study.
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Research Findings
Co-author Maria Maza noted that although this heightened, sensitivity to social input may encourage future obsessive social media usage, it may also indicate a potential adaptive behavior that may assist youngsters in managing an increasingly digital environment.
Social media sites provide a continuous and erratic stream of social interaction, according to scientists, in the form of likes, comments, alerts, and messages.
Social media users might be conditioned to check their feeds often because these social inputs are frequent, erratic, and often rewarding, as co-author Kara Fox put it.
Habitual checkers were shown to have unique brain maturational modifications, as per the research.
Particular alterations in brain areas, including motivational and cognitive control networks, were seen in these individuals as a result of expecting social rewards and punishments. This is compared to those who participated in nonhabitual checking activities.
Previous polls were made, and the results say that 80% of 13 to 17-year-olds say they check their phones at least once an hour, and 35% say they use one of the five most popular social networking sites practically continuously.
New evidence reveals that heavy use of these sites by 12 and 13-year-olds may influence brain maturation in a way that persists for at least three years.
Social Media Effects on Teenagers
Scientists found that teenagers who viewed their social media accounts regularly, about 15 times per day, had an increased sense of the opinions of others.
Another author of the research, American psychologist Mitch Prinstein, said that most teens begin utilizing technology and social media during one of the essential times for brain development throughout their lives.
Dr. Prinstein said that this study "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."
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