Stidies have shown that people who engaged in habitual social media activities showed “a distinct neurodevelopmental trajectory within regions of the brain comprising the affective salience, motivational, and cognitive control networks in response to anticipating social rewards and punishments compared with those who engaged in non-habitual checking behaviors.”
Annual fMRI scans conducted over three years measured what is known as the Social Incentive Delay (SID). SID measures anticipation of obtaining a social reward and avoiding a social punishment. Participants who spent too much screen time were presented with a cue image (an adolescent face with an emotional expression) indicating whether the social feedback would be a reward, punishment, or neutral. After a delay, students had to respond by pressing a button as quickly as possible. The MRI measured the reaction time according to the image type.
After measurements each year for three consecutive years, the results showed that the children with habits of too much screen time on social media showed differences in reaction times in specific areas of their brains compared with those without such levels of social media activity.