Spending more time on social media has been linked to lower cognitive abilities among children aged nine to 13, new research has revealed.
While the addictive nature of scrolling through social media platforms is already known to impact mental health, less is known about the impact on cognition and how well children think, learn, and process information.
Social media is less passive and more demanding on the brain then simply watching television as it continuously uses parts of the brain involved in information processing and decision making.
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A new study involved just over 6,500 adolescents selected from a large study on brain development, who were then divided into three groups according to social media usage: the majority (57.6%) showed no or very low use, 36.6% had low but steadily increasing use, while 5.8% were classed as having high and rising use.
Cognitive performance was measured using standardised testing of oral reading, sequential memory, pattern comparison speed, and picture vocabulary.
The results showed children in the low or no use of social media scored highest, while scores declined as social media use increased. Children in the higher use of social media group scored lowest.
The authors of the study say their findings are observational only and more research is needed to establish how social media usage impacts on cognitive performance.
It is estimated that outside of education, the average pre-teen spends just over five hours a day on screens, with a large part of that time spent on social media.
Read more in JAMA
