Internet addiction rewires the brains of teens, study says (2024)

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Internet addiction rewires teenagers' brains and may make them more likely to engage in other addictive behaviour, new research suggests.

Signalling between different areas of the brain related to controlling attention and understanding our own emotions were altered in youngsters addicted to being online, say scientists.

Their findings, published in the journal PLOS Mental Health, indicate that internet addiction is associated with disrupted signalling in the regions of the brain involved in multiple neural networks.

Study co-author Max Chang said: 'These networks play an important role in controlling our attention, in association with intellectual ability, working memory, physical coordination, and emotional processing.

'All of which in turn have an impact on mental health.'

Mr Chang, an associate researcher at University College London (UCL), added: 'Internet use has been skyrocketing, with adolescents spending more and more of their waking hours online.

'With this has come an increase in adolescent internet addiction.

'Given that adolescent brains are more capable of changing than those of adults, understanding the effects of internet addiction on the brain and behaviour is vital for society as a whole.'

Mr Chang and UCL colleague Irene Lee reviewed neuroimaging studies of the effects of internet addiction on the brains of young people.

The literature review focused on 12 neuroimaging studies of internet addicted adolescents that had examined changes in the connectivity between brain networks, which work in concert to govern important behaviours and development.

The neuroimaging studies that met the team's criteria in terms of age range and formal diagnosis of internet addiction were all conducted in Asia, despite many cases of internet addiction in the West.

In all of the reviewed studies, when internet addicted teenagers engaged in activities governed by the brain's executive control network – such as behaviour requiring attention, planning, decision-making, and especially impulsivity – those brain regions showed a 'significant' disruption in their ability to work together.

Mr Chang said: 'When engaging the default mode network, results varied more – however, functional connectivity was often reported to be disrupted during tasks that needed self-introspection and attention.

'Such signalling changes could mean that these behaviours can become more difficult to perform, which could potentially impact development and well-being.

'The present answers merely paint an unfinished picture that does not necessarily depict internet usage as overwhelmingly positive or negative.'

He says further studies that include more people from a wider population are needed to confirm how internet addiction changes the way in which the brain controls behaviour and therefore our general well-being.

Mr Chang added: 'Understanding how and where internet addiction affects the functional connectivity in the brains of adolescents as well as replicating MRI studies with multiple populations can guide future global therapeutic and public health interventions.'

But Professor David Ellis, behavioural scientist in the University of Bath's Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour, who was not involved in the study, urged caution over its results.

He warned that 'measurement of internet 'addiction' is neither universally accepted and certainly not diagnosable using the survey instruments used in the studies included as part of the review'.

He added 'any associations between functional connectivity and internet 'addiction' are at the mercy of multiple cofounders.

'This makes drawing strong conclusions from the papers reviewed almost impossible,' ProfessorEllis said.