Social media addiction significantly affects the brains of teenagers

Researchers from the University of North Carolina call not to draw hasty conclusions from the results of their observations of the impact of social networks on adolescent development. Because they could not come to unequivocal conclusions, except that such influence exists and it is very strong. Passion for social networks literally changes the brains of children, but the question is – good or bad?

The study involved 169 high school students from the age of 12 years. Researchers were primarily interested in their development as members of society, developing decision-making skills based on the assessment of others. Simply put, how important it was for children to receive non-material rewards and punishments in the form of smiles, approving gestures, positive or negative comments on their actions – in this case, on posts on social media.

It turned out that initially those who check social media frequently, 15 times a day or more, responded little to social feedback. And those who visited their pages 1-2 times a day – on the contrary, were very sensitive to each emoticon or like. But after a few years, the picture has completely changed, the regulars of social networks began to react very anxiously to all the updates in the feed, and the rare visitors to social networks were almost indifferent to what appeared there.

At the same time, a scan of the adolescent brain was conducted, which allowed for noticeable changes in the amygdala, which is associated with emotion processing and memory. This lays the foundation for personality formation, for future adulthood. Perhaps this is just adaptive behavior, which is due to the need of modern people to live in a changeable digital world. But it is possible that we are talking about something more significant, which scientists cannot yet understand.