The Impact of Social Media Scrolling on Brain Development

Habitual social media scrolling negatively affects teens’ brains.

Reviewed by Lybi Ma

Key points

• Adolescence is a time of major brain development.
• Research suggests that social media usage increases sensitivity to social rewards and punishment.
• This can have a long-term negative impact on a young person’s brain.

If you remember your pre-teen and teenage years, you can probably recall the intense feelings of anxiety, embarrassment, mood swings, and the desperate need for your peer's approval. More than any time in your life, the craving for social acceptance seems the strongest during these years.

Important changes are happening to the brain during adolescence. During this developmental period, your brain is particularly sensitive to social feedback. This means that what others say about you can drastically affect how you feel about yourself.

On top of this, teens face their changing bodies, increased responsibilities, and the development of their identities. No wonder their social worlds become so important, as their social experiences largely affect their understanding of themselves and each other.

With the introduction of social media, teens have a new battleground to interact with and relate to their peers. And they are taking full advantage of it, with research showing that 78 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds check their devices at least hourly, and 46 percent check “almost constantly.”

A recent study by Maza and colleagues showed the relationship between adolescent brains and social media and was investigated to determine whether habitual social media checking led to increased sensitivity to social rewards and punishment. They argue that much like an addiction, adolescents are conditioned to habitually check social media in anticipation of social rewards such as “likes” and comments. They hypothesized that this drive for social rewards would lead to increased sensitivity to social feedback and increased activity in the brain related to motivation, emotion, and impulsivity.

Does habitual social media scrolling change teen brains? Well, according to their findings, yes.

After three years of analyzing the brains of 178 sixth and seventh-grade students, they found that the brains of participants who checked their social media the most developed differently than those who checked less. Specifically, habitual social media checking led to increased sensitivity to social cues over time, while nonhabitual checking behaviors showed a decrease in sensitivity over time. Unsurprisingly, the adolescents who were more “addicted” to checking their phones, showed an increase in dopamine release over time (you know, that brain chemical that famously makes us feel pleasure and stimulates our reward center, and is related to many addictive behaviors like gambling, alcohol, and drugs).

Furthermore, habitual social media checkers showed an increased activation in the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for emotions. Researchers suggest that this hyperactivation leads to an increase in the value of rewards, which can make it harder to control impulsive or habitual behaviors, such as checking social media. In contrast, nonhabitual checkers showed lower activation of the amygdala, which meant they were better able to regulate and resist impulses and respond more adaptively, a process known as cognitive control.

While further research is needed, this study suggests that compulsively using social media can seriously interfere with aspects of brain development by making adolescents’ already sensitive brains more reactive to social cues, and less able to self-regulate, thereby increasing their vulnerability to social-emotional difficulties. This is concerning given adolescence is already a high-risk life stage for developing mental health issues and many teens experience a tumultuous social world.

It is important to educate pre-teens and teens about the impact social media and habitual phone usage can have on their brains long term. It is equally important to put systems in place that would allow for better regulation of phone usage. Banning smartphone and social media use in schools and setting no-phone hours at home can be potential ways to reduce social media time. During this critical time of brain development, the less time spent checking social media, the better.