From Scrolling to Synapses: The Hidden Impact of Social Media on the Teenage Brain

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Written By Julianne Matczyszyn

On Friday, November 22nd, 2024, Dr. Giorgia Picci spoke on a panel of researchers in front of Nebraska’s governmental representatives and policymakers on the latest research centered around the impact of social media on child development. The panel was a part of the Nebraska Family Impact Seminar, an event dedicated to providing policymakers with empirical information on family issues for confronting society today and hosted by Boys Town’s Child and Family Translational Research Center and the University of Nebraska – Lincoln’s Center on Children, Families, and the Law.

Dr. Picci’s portion of the seminar was titled, “Effects of Social Media on the Developing Brain.” An accompanying research brief authored by all presenters is also available to read HERE. The following is a summary of her presentation.

Quick facts about social media

  • 97% of teens use social media

  • 95% of teens from all backgrounds have access to a smartphone

  • 45% of teens go online “nearly constantly” and spend an average 7.7 hours/day on screens

  • Data from 143 research studies: social media use has the strongest links with anxiety and depression in teens

    (Pew Research Center)

Four young women sitting on a park bench, looking at their smartphones.

What does the research say?

Social media amplifies the risk for mental health problems by exacerbating addiction-like behaviors and increasing social comparison and feedback-seeking (Tyma, 2022; National Academics, 2024). This matters for brain development in teenagers because adolescence is a time of major plasticity also known as neuroplasticity. This means that the brain is highly adaptable and can change its structure and function based on experiences and learning, allowing for a type of rewiring in response to its environment. Additionally, the social world of adolescents shapes their brain development and mental health. Therefore, while social media use is not bad in and of itself, misuse of it can create a compounding risk for teens.

During adolescence, the reward circuitry in the brain is already naturally heightened. This heightened sensitivity to reward, combined with endless amounts of social feedback, approval-seeking, and stress from social media platforms can quickly become hijacked. Problematic use of social media has been shown to accelerate cortex thinning, meaning that the brain’s outer layer (the cerebral cortex) is thinning at a faster rate than is considered normal and can be a sign of potential neurological issues impacting brain health (Achterberg et al., 2022; Paulus et al., 2019; Bos et al., 2018). In her latest publication, Dr. Picci and colleagues identified that accelerated cortex thinning could potentially reduce neural activity in social cognition brain regions such as the temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex, responsible for social perception and social-emotional decision making respectively.

 
 

Research has also found that the negative influences of social media are amplified during puberty. During this developmental phase, teens are especially susceptible to social comparison and highly sensitive to peer social feedback (Bickham et al., 2022). Social comparison, depending on the adolescent’s similarity to friends, can be associated with unhealthy comparisons, such as envy, or positive comparisons, like motivation (Rosic, et al., 2022).

Boy with hand on face looking at phone in the dark

Take away points

  1. Adolescence is a time of neuroplasticity and intense sensitivity to social spheres

  2. Social media is not bad in and of itself but could amplify neurobehavioral risks specific to teens like increased social comparison, feedback and approval seeking,

  3. During adolescence, problematic social media use is linked with altered brain development and increased risk for mental health problems such as addiction-like behaviors, depression, and anxiety.

Based on her findings, alongside others, Dr. Picci proposed four suggestions for her audience of legislation and policymakers.

  1. Social media literacy campaigns for different age groups

  2. Policy and education that protects against harmful behaviors

  3. Target support toward high-needs families who are at greater risk

  4. Policy that deters exploration of reward sensitivity

 

Meet the principal investigator

A woman with short brown hair, wearing a plaid blazer and mustard blouse, stands with arms crossed in front of an MRI machine.

Dr. Picci is the director of the Cognitive Affective Neurodevelopment in Youth (CANDY) Laboratory at the Institute for Human Neuroscience. Her research focuses on childhood adversity, puberty, and developmental psychopathology. In particular, she seeks to understand how early life experiences (e.g. child abuse, neglect, discrimination) shape neurodevelopment and mental health outcomes (e.g., depression and anxiety) in youth.

Postdoctoral Fellow – Boys Town National Research Hospital (2023)
Postdoctoral Fellow – Pennsylvania State University (2021)
PhD – Developmental Psychology, Pennsylvania State University (2018)
BA – Psychology, George Mason University (2012)

Julianne Matczyszyn
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