How Living in a Digital World Changes Kids' Brains

"I recently wrote about how children and adolescents who spend more time in digital environments than they do having real-world experiences (see " Getting Our Kids' Brains Back on Track"). One of the more disturbing aspects of this trend is how neurotypical brains that are not exposed to critical experiences can produce the same symptoms we see in neurodivergent brains."

"Studies have shown that neural connections are different in the brains of children with attention disorders-and that early functional changes (meaning those in brain networks, not visible in brain structures) may be precursors to the white matter changes that are plainly visible later on. In any brain, functional differences can become permanent if no one intervenes to change the environment and behaviors."

"We can literally see the results in the intricate frontal lobe connections that appear on advanced neuroimaging scans. Kids who spend time in three-dimensional environments have rich connections between their frontal lobes and other parts of their brains. Kids who spend hours consuming digital content don't. That difference has nothing to do with a diagnosis of ADHD or other cognitive disorder-the phenomenon exists independent of a diagnosis."

Deprivation of complex, real-world stimuli during childhood hinders development of executive function and frontal-lobe connectivity. Neurotypical children who lack rich three-dimensional experiences can develop neural patterns and symptoms resembling neurodivergent brains. Functional brain-network changes can precede and later lead to visible white-matter alterations, and such functional differences may become permanent without environmental or behavioral intervention. Advanced neuroimaging shows richer frontal-lobe connections in children who engage in real-world activities and reduced connectivity in children who spend hours consuming digital content. MRI evidence indicates gray-matter changes by ages three to five in areas supporting language, reading, empathy, and higher-order cognition.

Read at Psychology Today