"The problem is not just social media, but rather the quick "hits" of news, entertainment, and other information we experience all day long. These short bites, without context, are diminishing our prefrontal neural networks and affecting our ability to plan, organize, and solve problems. Teens who think they understand an issue because they've seen a 15-second video about it have not only missed the news, but they've missed the opportunity to understand context, evaluate sources, and draw conclusions. And it's damaging their brains along the way."
"In just a few decades, technology has managed to interrupt an evolutionary process that took millions of years to develop. It's complex: In the time between infancy and adulthood, the human brain undergoes specific developmental steps in response to not just biological cues, but also environmental ones. The process is not static, but evolutionary. As humans developed language, for example, the brain developed eloquent areas that process written and spoken words. We have developed the intricate brain connections that allow us to manipulate symbols, create hypothetical scenarios, and coordinate events"
Children and adolescents who spend hours in digital environments experience functional changes in their brains. Rapid, fragmented "hits" of news, entertainment, and information reduce the strength of prefrontal neural networks involved in planning, organization, and problem-solving. Short, context-free media bites impair abilities to evaluate sources, understand context, and draw conclusions. This pattern interrupts developmental processes that evolved over millions of years, altering brain maturation between infancy and adulthood. Environmental input shapes brain development, including language and symbolic manipulation. Parents, teachers, and schools need strategies to limit harmful exposure and teach processing, planning, and execution skills to prevent and reverse cognitive decline.
Read at Psychology Today
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