Scientists talked about the decline in cognitive skills in children due to social media

An increase in the time children spend on social media from the age of 9 to 13 is associated with a deterioration in cognitive skills, including memory, vocabulary, and reading skills. A JAMA study involving 6,554 teenagers found that the children with the most time on social media showed the worst results. This was reported in the journal Medical Xpress.

The average teenager aged 9-13 spends about five and a half hours a day in front of screens, with a significant portion of this time spent on social media. Unlike passive video viewing, they require constant interaction: scrolling through the feed, checking notifications, and communicating with other users. Such actions actively involve areas of the brain responsible for information processing and decision-making, making social media more mentally stressful.

The team of scientists used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) program, which monitors the brain development and cognitive abilities of children in 21 research centers. 6,554 adolescents were selected for the analysis — 51.1% of boys and 48.9% of girls. The data was collected in three stages: baseline (2016-2018, 9-10 years), first year (2017-2019) and second year (2018-2020).

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The social habits of teenagers were studied using group trajectory modeling, which allowed us to identify three categories of users: the majority (57.6%) almost did not access social networks, about a third (36.6%) gradually increased their online time, and 5.8% demonstrated a high and growing level of activity.

Cognitive abilities were assessed using the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery, which includes tests on oral reading, memory, sample comparison speed, and vocabulary. The results showed that teenagers from the group with high and growing social media activity performed worse, especially on language and memorial tests.

Ekaterina Barbakadze, internist, doctor of functional diagnostics at the Dokstarklab Academy, said on March 6 that the problem of constant use of mobile devices is a serious threat that affects both the physical condition and psychological well-being of a person.

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