The Developing Brain in the Digital Era: A Scoping Review of Structural and Functional Correlates of Screen Time in Adolescence

Abstract

The widespread diffusion of screen-based devices in adolescence has fueled a debate about the beneficial and detrimental effects on adolescents’ well-being and development. With the aim of summarizing the existing literature on the associations between screen time (including Internet-related addictions) and adolescent brain development, the present scoping review summarized evidence from 16 task-unrelated and task-related neuroimaging studies, published between 2010 and 2020. Results highlight three important key messages: (i) a frequent and longer duration of screen-based media consumption (including Internet-related addictive behaviors) is related to a less efficient cognitive control system in adolescence, including areas of the Default Mode Network and the Central Executive Network; (ii) online activities act as strong rewards to the brain and repeated screen time augments the tendency to seek short-term gratifications; and (iii) neuroscientific research on the correlates between screen time and adolescent brain development is still at the beginning and in urgent need for further evidence, especially on the underlying causality mechanisms. Methodological, theoretical, and conceptual implications are discussed.

Digital Media Use and Adolescents' Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In particular, during home quarantine, social media use was the only way to meet and socialize, thus contributing to longer time spent online and more frequently reported symptoms of social media addiction, especially when adolescents experienced FoMO, thus diminishing well-being ( 64 ) - in particular, FoMO proneness was higher at the early stage of the pandemic ( 64 ). Given that adolescents' self-control skills are still underdeveloped due to the immaturity of the prefrontal cortex, younger age groups were even more at risk of developing symptoms of media addiction during the pandemic, which was further facilitated by the instantaneous and easy-to-access gratifying contents that (social) media platforms convey ( 65 , 71 ). According to the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution Model ( 72 ), the experience of psychological distress, such as the one created by the Covid-19 lockdown, likely contributed to the development of addictive Internet use.…”

Current Status of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in Japan: New Lifestyle-Related Disease in Children and Adolescents

“…Screen-based media use (including Internet-related addictive behaviors) is associated with a less efficient cognitive control system in adolescence. Adolescents with IGD more frequently exhibit decreased short- and medium-range connectivity among the subcortical, frontal, and parietal regions involved in attentional and control networks, in line with other behavioral addictions [ 57 , 58 , 59 ]. IGD is linked to functional and structural neural changes in the fronto-striatal and fronto-cingulate regions [ 43 ].…”

“…Fronto-striatal dysfunction is also thought to promote a compulsive use of the Internet and screen devices in general. It has been reported that adolescents who play action video games more frequently struggle to maintain their attention over time [ 58 ]. Adolescents typically exhibit more reward anticipation brain activity than adults do.…”

“…They are more susceptible to the intense rewards that are provided by gaming activities ( Figure 5 ). Excessive gaming on a regular basis can reinforce adolescents’ propensity to seek out instant gratification, which they value higher [ 58 ]. Several studies have tried to establish the dynamics involved in IGD etiology.…”

Towards a Better Understanding of the Neurobiological Basis of Problematic Social Media use in Young Adults

“…As a result of their developmental period, there is reduced connectivity between cognitive control and subcortical structures involved in reward processing in young populations (Marciano et al, 2021). Previous evidence did not find a difference between problematic social media use between younger adolescents and young adults, however psychopathological risk for the development of problematic use did differ between ages (Cerniglia et al, 2019).…”