There are many signs that young people today are struggling with their mental health, and people are trying hard to identify the main culprits. Use. However, because the direct evidence for social media use is mixed, recent studies examining the relationship between social media use and patterns of brain activation over time have generated a great deal of interest. , not so surprising.
Research published in reputable journals JAMA Pediatricsemployed 6th Seventh grader at three public schools in North Carolina. At baseline, subjects completed a questionnaire investigating how often they checked their Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat accounts. Based on this, subjects were divided into low, medium and high use groups.
Then, at up to three different time points in the future, the same subjects completed an activity called the social incentive delay task. This task involved responding to expected social rewards, punishments, and neutral feedback in a manner very similar to social media. While subjects performed this task, they underwent functional MRI scans that could measure the amount of brain activation occurring in different regions of the brain.
The main finding was that the three groups of subjects had different brain activation patterns over time in several key brain regions thought to be important in processing social rewards. People who checked social media the most were found to have the lowest brain sensitivity in these areas at age 12, but this sensitivity tended to increase at age 14 and 16. Interestingly, those who checked social media the least at age 12 were the most sensitive at age 12, and then autumn with time.
This is a difficult pattern to interpret, especially since there is no standard to refer to for these brain development patterns. should do it looks like. The researchers hope to suggest that compulsive social media checking alters adolescent brain development by sensitizing pathways involved in social rewards and punishments.
However, they recognize that they cannot draw firm conclusions with the data they have because differences in brain activation exist all at once.
However, despite the limited conclusions that can be drawn from this study, the media and the public have used the more nebulous, but somewhat ominous, finding of “diverse brain development” to speculate at the worst. Picked it up and flew. These brain imaging studies have very compelling and realistic implications, even though they basically only confirm that brain activity is behind our thoughts, emotions, and actions. (how else was it supposed to work?).
Hopefully, someday, researchers will examine some of these brain activation patterns. Before Children are exposed to social media that helps sort out some of these questions.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a great study to help us better understand how social media is driven by impulses. And I’m not going to deny that excessive social media and general screen usage can be a big problem for many people. I don’t think we should wait for studies like this to tell us that.
Regardless of which brain areas activate when they see different emoji reactions on Instagram posts, spend resources testing educational content that can effectively teach kids how to use screens. is best (instead of letting the screen use the screen).
