Introduction
This research brief is the complement to Technology Use & the Brain During Key Developmental Periods, Part I: Early Childhood. In this second part, we evaluate the evidence for technology’s impacts on development during another key developmental stage, adolescence (age 11 through early childhood). Like part one, this brief will explore the findings, methodologies, limitations of this research in its current state, and opportunities for future research. Due to the rapidly changing landscape of digital spaces, this research brief will primarily discuss findings from the past ten years.
Adolescence: Age 11 though Early Adulthood
Cognition
Neural Basis
During adolescence, the brain develops through rapid pruning and maturation, presenting unique opportunities for learning and growth. As the brain sheds unnecessary neural connections, those that are retained become more efficient and interconnected (Casey et al., 2025). The prefrontal cortex, which contributes to emotional regulation, planning, and attention, is especially plastic during adolescence, suggesting a peak in social and cognitive development (Baker et al., 2025). Due to the environmentally reactive nature of adolescent neural networks, researchers are interested in determining if media use affects brain development.
Researchers have utilized the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) data set, a study that examines adolescent development over time, to investigate potential correlations between digital media use and brain development. Cortical thickness describes the width of the brain’s gray matter, contributing to cognitive processing and brain communication. Some research demonstrated an association between social media use and reduced cortical thickness (Nagata et al., 2026), though other research showed a positive relationship between video-gaming and cortical thickness in prefrontal areas, areas associated with executive functioning, planning, attention, and other high-level thinking (Kuhn et al., 2014). Therefore, the type of media and brain areas being investigated may influence this relationship.
Cortical maturation, a term used to describe the process of brain specialization and connectivity, was also investigated. Researchers suggested a relationship between delayed cortical maturation and addictive videogaming, as well as addictive phone use for females (Paige et al., 2026). Notably, since this study examined addiction rather than frequency of play or use. Therefore, it only demonstrated brain differences related to problematic or obsessive use. In a separate study, researchers examined cognitive performance, cortical area, and reading and television habits, demonstrating the greatest association between increased cortical area and performance and reading (Rauschecker et al., 2025). The association between reduced cognitive performance, cortical area, and increased television viewing, on the other hand, was of small significance (Rauschecker et al., 2025). This suggests that negative cognitive and neural effects may result not simply with extended use of screens, but when screens displace other activities that are enriching.
One specific brain region of interest is the reward pathway, including the striatum and nucleus accumbens, which controls reward anticipation and motivation. Multiple studies demonstrated how abnormal processing in the striatum was linked with video game addiction (Lopez et al., 2024; Dong et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2021). Individuals with changes to striatal functioning may habituate to rewards, meaning higher stimulation is needed to achieve reward satisfaction, leading to a need for greater stimulation and potentially more obsessive gaming. Additionally, researchers demonstrated how initial sensitivity to social feedback subsequently decreased and was associated with addictive social media use, which is linked to higher depressive symptoms in girls (Flannery et al., 2024). Eventually, adolescents need a higher threshold of online social feedback for satisfaction, aligned with the framework of reward habituation. The gender distinction for depressive symptoms in girls may be due to the emphasis girls are conditioned to place on social relationships, leading to greater emotional attachment to social media. Researchers have also shown how girls are more susceptible to social media addiction, while boys are more susceptible to video gaming addiction (Flannery et al., 2024). It is important to consider the brain processes involved with digital media use and addiction. Whether the relationship is bidirectional or causal is a question for future research.
Attention
Since the past two decades have seen a rise in the prevalence of adolescent ADHD (Abdelnour et al., 2021), researchers are interested if the overuse of digital media reduces adolescent attention spans. Some researchers theorize that media multitasking causes habituation to high arousal levels and a decline in the ability to internally guide attention, leading to dysfunction (Baumgartner et al., 2018). Others suggest that fast-paced media disrupts the capacity to focus on more prolonged tasks (Nikkelen et al., 2014). Still others understand media use through a bidirectional and reciprocal relationship, where baseline inattention may contribute to problematic media use, which in turn worsens attentional issues (Baumgartner et al., 2018; Thorell et al., 2024). Since evidence from cross-sectional research (data captured at a single moment in time) demonstrates a positive association between media use or addiction and ADHD symptoms like inattention in the adolescent population (Barry et al., 2017; Boers et al., 2020; Liu et al., 2024; Peeters et al., 2018), many studies are now adopting longitudinal methodology to determine if there is a causal relationship over time. For example, a survey of teens and parents indicated that attention problems may precede and contribute to problematic videogaming (Ferguson & Ceranoglu, 2014), but other research demonstrated that media multitasking and problematic social media behavior may precede or worsen attention deficits (Baumgartner et al., 2018; Boer et al., 2020; Ra et al., 2018). Nuanced evaluation of findings still suggests a reciprocal relationship, with Baumgartner et al. (2018) finding that attention problems possibly have an immediate effect on media use, which is not as easily measured.
The relationship between inattention and media use may be dependent on multiple factors, including the type of media, stage of adolescence, and whether media behavior is problematic. (Baumgartner et al., 2018; Boer et al., 2020; Liu et al., 2024; Thorell et al., 2024) For example, a survey study of over 1,000 students found a significant association between media multitasking and symptoms of ADHD three months later in young, but not middle, adolescents (Baumgartner et al., 2018). In other words, younger adolescents already prone to attention problems may be more susceptible to adverse media effects. A systematic review by Thorrell et al. (2024) suggests that media addiction, compared with screen time, has a greater correlation to inattention, suggesting that problematic media behavior is more detrimental. Yet another study shows how blaming others is a mediator between inattention and social media addiction, meaning that a lack of self-awareness of problematic behavior could link ADHD symptoms to social media addiction (Liu et al, 2024). Finally, Thorell et al. (2024) found evidence that digital media use was associated with decreased sleep, which was then correlated with increased ADHD symptoms.
There are several limitations of the available studies that require caution in interpreting the present findings. A majority of the longitudinal studies rely on self-reporting of ADHD symptoms, which have been shown to inaccurately report the prevalence of disorders (Baumgartner et al., 2018; Peeters et al., 2018; Zimmerman, 2024), and may make it difficult to distinguish between clinical diagnoses of ADHD as opposed to general inattention. Future studies could consider separating these groups using clinician administered diagnoses. Another limitation is the potential for other confounding variables that distort the measured relationship, such as biological predispositions or change in average media use over time (Baumgartner et al., 2018; Boer et al., 2020; Thorell et al., 2024). In summary, scientists should recognize an established association while acknowledging that the direction of effect is ambiguous, with possibilities to resolve this ambiguity in future research.
Emotional Regulation
As the prefrontal cortex matures during adolescence, individuals develop a greater capacity for emotional regulation: the ability to monitor, reflect on, and manage emotional reactions. Gioia et al. (2021) reviewed multiple studies demonstrating how emotional dysregulation may lead to the development of problematic media use, with an internet “escape” displacing other regulation strategies. Moreover, adolescents who reported negative perceptions of their parents were also more likely to develop emotional dysregulation, with studies noting that emotional regulation may influence the relationship between parent-child relationships and problematic media use based on perceived unmet needs like safety and connection (Gioia et al., 2021; Lopez-Monton et al., 2026). Feelings of emotional deprivation, failure, and insufficient self-control are indirectly associated with problematic media use through emotional dysregulation and dependence, suggesting that.managing core emotional deficits may help with problematic media use (Lopez-Monton et al., 2026). For example, one strategy used to mitigate negative emotions is cognitive reappraisal, the process of reframing negative perspectives in a more realistic or approachable light. A study demonstrated how cognitive reappraisal specifically may be a protective factor against Internet Gaming Disorder (Zhang & Wu, 2026), thus showing how developed emotional regulation strategies can protect against problematic media use.
Since emotional dysregulation has been shown to precede problematic media use, healthy regulation may therefore protect against it. An interesting point of contention is the use of digital media to self-regulate. Some researchers believe that increased digital means of emotional regulation may enhance emotional flexibility, simply providing another avenue for coping. Contrarily, other researchers worry that an over reliance on digital strategies is detrimental to emotional flexibility, making it harder for adolescents to self-regulate using other coping mechanisms and contributing to problematic media use (Hollenstein & Faulkner, 2024).
Researchers have found that extensive use of digital media to calm young children may lead to emotional dysregulation later in life (Christensen-Duerden et al., 2026; Coyne et al., 2021), potentially explaining a continued overreliance on screens in adolescence to cope. However, digital media does not necessarily provide new strategies for emotional regulation; rather, it introduces new means to practice reappraisal, emotional suppression, and physiological regulation (breathing exercises). An offline strategy to go play a game outside may distract someone in the same way a video game would (Hollenstein & Faulkner, 2024). Additionally, some online means of emotional regulation can be productive; texting, for example, may provide adolescents with time for reappraisal and reflection while feeling supported (Hollenstein & Faulkner, 2024). Whether digital emotion regulation promotes emotional flexibility or hinders it may depend on the type of media, extent of usage, and whether adolescents have other strategies they rely on in tandem to digital regulation.
Academic Impacts
During adolescence, tweens and teens are expected to take greater responsibility for learning and the associated executive functioning tasks like scheduling and time management. As stated previously , academic development may be impacted by technology in a multitude of ways. While some research has found a negative association between general screen time and learning processes like concentration, several have found that sleep can explain some of this relationship, where nighttime screen use results in less sleep, impacting a young person’s ability to concentrate the next day (Leondardt et al., 2025). Therefore, it may be more meaningful to evaluate the context and timing of screen use when considering how a young person’s digital habits might impact their ability to concentrate in school.
In a small study of adolescents, who used their phones for a median of 109 minutes a day during school hours, those who checked their phone more had lower scores of inhibitory control, a measure that has been associated with academic performance (Privitera et al., 2023; Telzer & Burnell, 2026). A recent scoping review found that media multitasking with non-academic devices during school time was associated with poorer outcomes like taking longer to complete a task or making more mistakes, suggesting that distraction from a learning task may play a strong role in how screens impact academics (e.g. Leonhardt et al., 2025).
In response to these concerns about distraction or multitasking, many schools have implemented phone bans for their students. While there is some evidence that phone bans may have small impacts on academic performance, particularly for those who were performing less well at baseline or from lower socioeconomic backgrounds (e.g. Abrahamsson, 2024; Beland & Murphy, 2016), there are a multitude of concerns about existing evaluations of phone bans. A scoping review from 2024 found that much of the available evidence was not peer reviewed, used various ways of defining different ban types that might make findings difficult to compare, or relied on teacher and parent reports of wellbeing without including data from students themselves (Campbell & Edwards, 2024; Campbell et al., 2024). A more recent large-scale study found that academic impacts for schools implementing lockable pouches are small, with the greatest being a modest impact on high school math (Allcott et al., 2026). Clearly, while reducing smartphone use in schools may decrease multitasking or distraction, other educational interventions beyond are likely needed to see measurable impacts on student academic performance.
Social and Emotional Development
During adolescence, teens navigate complex social and emotional dynamics. With developmental goals to gain autonomy, establish an identity, develop relationships, and become confident in their sexuality (Nelson et al., 2025), individuals improve their social and emotional wellbeing. Considering the many new digital outlets available for social connection, researchers wonder about the potential benefits and detriments of these platforms.
Adolescents may seek out online methods for social connection when they are lacking in offline means for connection (O’Day et al., 2021; Yue et al., 2026). Specifically, loneliness and social anxiety may predict digital behavior. Yue et al. (2026) demonstrated how loneliness was linked to social videogaming; the immediate and short-lived social feedback of these relationships make continued gaming exciting, possibly contributing to excessive gaming (Yue et al., 2026). Another study showed how adolescents with high levels of social anxiety reported feeling more comfortable in online social interactions, providing a place for more confident social engagement (Scott et al., 2024).
Social media offers both unique benefits and potential risks to teenagers’ social and emotional development. Social comparison via social media may lower adolescent girls’ body image (Kleemans et al., 2018; Lowe-Calverly & Grieve, 2021; Pedalino & Camerini, 2022), with one study reporting that girls who often scroll on instagram have reduced body satisfaction, especially through comparison with social media influencers (Pedalino & Camerini, 2022). Other research points to the dangers of cyberbullying and peer pressure in online spaces, leading to psychological damage (Khalaf et al., 2023).
However, digital media also may improve social connection and wellbeing in the offline world. Many adolescents feel that social media improves their feeling of connectedness, particularly through reciprocal communication, while providing a platform to find communities of peers that share their interests (Haddock et al., 2022; Khalaf et al., 2023). Some research even showed how social media use could predict greater time spent with friends (Steinsbekk et al., 2024). Multiple studies have demonstrated how the greatest reported psychological wellbeing was linked with moderate use of social media and other digital devices, whereas poorer psychological profiles were associated with extreme use or disuse (Przybylski & Weinstein, 2017; Singh et al., 2026). In short, balance may be an important factor for fostering positive digital relationships.
Of significant relevance is the role that artificial intelligence chatbots (AI-Cs) play in the social development of adolescent users. Researchers have created theoretical frameworks to understand how forming relationships with artificial outlets may harm or help adolescents. Some propose that chatbots enhance real life relationships, acting as a method for identity exploration, development of relationship skills, relief of loneliness, and improvement of social confidence (Sun et al., 2026). Through the Displacement Hypothesis, others theorize that AI-Cs may displace existing relationships, prompting teens to rely more on their chatbot “friend” than real friends and family and encouraging unrealistic expectations for human relationships (Sun et al., 2026). Similarly , there is a risk that teens may lose empathy in their relationships, since chatbot interactions lack mutuality and embody an idealistic and unrealistic companion or partner (Sun et al., 2026). As technology continues to evolve, more studies should be conducted to investigate how artificial chatbots impact adolescents’ social landscape, social skills, and expectations of relationships.
Conclusion
Rather than promoting pure abstinence from adolescent media use, researchers and policy makers should focus on how digital media is used, and in what capacities it can promote development and wellbeing (Moreno & Radesky, 2023) Instead of a singular narrative of blame on digital media for social, emotional, and cognitive deficits, parents and researchers should seek to address underlying struggles that may influence problematic media use. While research demonstrates how digital media can negatively affect adolescent development, an equal body of evidence suggests that it serves a vital role in helping adolescents connect with their peers, feel emotionally secure, and feel less alone. Every adolescent presents with a unique social, emotional, and cognitive profile, just as every type of digital media has unique affordances and risks. Understanding this variance can help adolescents navigate the digital world, giving them digital agency while optimizing their wellbeing and development.
This research brief was written by Julia Tsappis, Summer Research Intern, and Kaitlin Tiches, MLIS, Medical Librarian and Knowledge Manager at the Digital Wellness Lab. For more information, please email us.