What is the effect of social networks on the teenage brain – 03/02/2024 – Balance

Every generation has its moral panic. For today’s teenagers – the so-called generation Z – it undoubtedly resides on social media.

Recent public health warnings have fueled fears among parents that a generation of children is doomed for always being online. Girls, the headlines warn, are at particular risk: mental health-related emergency room visits have increased, anxiety is soaring, and they continue to be inundated with images of the “skinny body ideal.”

Still, neuroscientists and psychologists who specialize in the teenage brain sum it up simply: Yes, social media is a concern because the rapidly developing brain may be especially vulnerable to what the platforms have to offer. But the science is not as conclusive as some of the more alarming headlines make it seem.

“This is, in fact, the first truly digital generation, and we have yet to discover the effect of this”, says Frances Jensen, neurologist at the University of Pansylvania and author of the book “The Teenage Brain”, in free translation).

“We can get photographs of the moment,” he adds.

What we know is that the brain matures backwards, a process that begins in childhood and continues into adulthood, explains Jansen. And during adolescence, there is a specific churning in the middle part of the brain that is associated with rewards and social repercussions.

“Areas that have to do with peers, social pressure, impulsivity and emotions are very, very, very active,” says Jensen.

Psychologist Mitch Prinstein, scientific director of the American Psychological Association, says that “beyond the first year of life, this is the most significant and important change that happens in our brains throughout our lives.”

In scientific terms, what happens has to do with synapses (the connections that allow signals to be sent and received by neurons), which become stronger, while connections that are no longer necessary are pruned. (It’s “use it or lose it”, according to Jensen).

At the same time, long-distance connections between brain cells in various parts are insulated by a fatty substance known as myelin, which allows messages to travel through the brain much more efficiently. This “myelination” process is not completed until the middle or end of the third decade of life, according to Jensen. This means that during adolescence, signals don’t always travel through the brain quickly enough to help young people regulate their emotions and impulses, explains the doctor.

Likewise, the prefrontal cortex – which sits behind the forehead and is responsible for tasks such as evaluating consequences and planning – is still maturing in the teenage years.

“The teenage brain is like a car that, when it comes to the desire for social approval, has a hypersensitive gas pedal but brakes that don’t work as well,” says Prinstein, who testified on the subject in the US Senate earlier this year . “The inhibition center of the brain that says ‘maybe you shouldn’t follow every desire and instinct’ is not fully developed.”

Although researchers know much better about adolescent brain development today than they did a decade ago, according to Prinstein, proving a cause-and-effect relationship between social media use and negative consequences on mental health is difficult. Studies on well-being and social networks were found to be inconsistent or inconclusive after reviews.

Some studies have attempted to measure the issue directly using brain imaging, including a paper authored by Prinstein published in January, which found that 12-year-olds who constantly check their social networks experience changes in areas of the brain associated with social rewards. although it is unclear what caused these changes or their significance.

Experts who study teenagers and social media have observed that girls are hardest hit by the current mental health crisis. They say female hormones may play a role, but the connection to social media use has not been scientifically proven. “Hormones are modifying this process in ways we don’t fully understand,” says Jensen.

The doctor eagerly awaits the results of the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study (or ABCD study) funded by the National Institutes of Health, which is using brain imaging technology to show how development is affected by a number of of experiences, including different times of exposure to screens.

Researchers are still following ABCD study participants into early adulthood. For Jensen, the constantly changing landscape of social media demonstrates how difficult the topic is to study. The apps and websites that young people use today are different from those that were popular a few years ago.

Still, both Jensen and Prinstein noted that social media is not inherently good or bad — a sentiment echoed even by recent health warnings. Instead, they seek to emphasize that changes occurring in teenagers’ brains may make them particularly attracted to these platforms and more susceptible to potential pitfalls.

When tweens become obsessed with their social lives—talking endlessly about their peers and who sits at the “popular table”—it’s a sign that they’re maturing normally, Prinstein says.

“This is how their brains should develop, based on centuries of social context in which we all grew up,” he says. But now, teens are experiencing these changes in an online world that “is creating the opportunity for unrelenting rewards and social repercussions,” he adds. “It’s that combination that worries us.”