How Excessive Screen Use Changes the Adolescent Brain

[Tracy Markle] Now, let’s take a brief look at how excessive use of devices over a sustained period of time is associated with structural and functional changes in the adolescent brain. A growing body of evidence has found that children’s brains can structurally and functionally change due to prolonged media multitasking, such as diminished gray matter in the prefrontal cortex, where attentional control and complex decision-making abilities reside, among other really important skills like the development of empathy and understanding for nonverbal social communication. Excessive screen time impacts the development of critical thinking skills. Visual media, the common type of media found online, doesn’t allow for reflection, analysis, and imagination. If a teen has easy, regular access to quickly turn to Siri or Google when they’re struggling for an answer, they do, instead of thinking about it deeply and talking to other people. Reading real books does allow for reflection, analysis, and building imagination.