Social media is changing the brain

For some parents, social media is the new television: Some are happy when they can “park” their kids in front of a device, while others warn of harmful effects. For a long time, psychologists and sociologists have warned of the pressure the Instagram, Snapchat or Tiktok algorithms put on not just teens, but body image or political beliefs.

Now, a new study shows that social media consumption may have an impact on brain development. Neuroscientists at the University of North Carolina studied the brains of middle school students ages 12 to 15 over a three-year period, at a time when brain development was particularly rapid.

Social media consumption activates regions in the brain in the long run

The bottom line: Anyone this age who regularly checks their social media feeds—more than four times a day—will over-activate three brain regions in the long run: reward processing circuits that also respond to experiences like making money or risky behavior. ; Brain regions that manage attention and the prefrontal cortex, which helps with regulation and control. “Adolescents who regularly use social media show quite dramatic changes in the way their brains respond, with potentially long-term consequences into adulthood,” says Eva H. Telzer, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina. from the authors of the study.

Telzer says the results show that “young people who grow up using social media more and more react extremely sensitively to feedback from their peers.” Researchers disagree on whether this will lead to long-term mental health problems such as depression.