Internet addiction could cause negative changes in adolescent brains – study

Teenagers should consider setting limits on the time they spend online each day, academics have said, after a new study found internet addiction could have detrimental effects on young people's brains.

Internet addiction can cause “negative behavioral and developmental changes” in adolescent brains, experts said.

These changes could mean that teenagers struggle to maintain relationships and social activities and lie about their online activities.

Teenagers addicted to the Internet may also experience sleep problems and develop irregular eating habits, researchers say.

It comes after experts discovered that internet addiction appears to change connections between brain networks in adolescents.

Researchers from University College London examined data from 12 studies conducted in Korea, China and Indonesia, involving 237 young people aged 10 to 19 who had been diagnosed with internet addiction.

The problem has been defined by researchers as a person's inability to resist the urge to use the Internet, which has negative effects on their psychological well-being as well as their social, academic and professional life.

All of the young people involved in the study underwent brain scans to examine how brain regions interact with each other – also called functional connectivity – while they rested and completed a task.

The team found that a number of brain regions appeared to be affected by internet addiction.

This includes a mixture of increased and decreased activity in parts of the brain activated when the people studied are resting and decreased functional connectivity in parts of the brain involved in active thinking.

The academics said these changes may be linked to addictive behaviors as well as behavioral changes associated with intellectual ability, physical coordination, mental health and development.

“Given the influx of technology and media into the lives and education of children and adolescents, an increase in prevalence and focus on Internet-related behavior changes is imperative for the mental health of future children and adolescents,” the authors wrote in the journal PLOS Mental Health. .

Lead author Max Chang said: “Adolescence is a crucial developmental stage during which people undergo significant changes in their biology, cognition and personality.

“As a result, the brain is particularly vulnerable to Internet addiction-related urges during this time, such as compulsive Internet use, urges to use the mouse or keyboard, and media consumption.

“Our study results show that this can lead to potentially negative behavioral and developmental changes that could impact adolescents’ lives.”

“For example, they may struggle to maintain relationships and social activities, lie about their online activities, and have irregular eating and disturbed sleep. »

Lead author Irene Lee added: “There is no doubt that the Internet has certain advantages. However, when it starts to affect our everyday lives, it becomes a problem.

“We advise young people to respect reasonable time limits for their daily internet use and ensure they are aware of the psychological and social implications of spending too much time online.”

The authors point out that their study only included a small number of people, mainly from Asian countries, and they called for more research with different populations.

But commenting on the article, Professor David Ellis, of the Institute for Digital Safety and Behavior at the University of Bath, warned that “it is almost impossible to draw strong conclusions from the articles reviewed” in due to a number of limitations in the studies reviewed.