Scientists have found that kids' social media use might be slowing down their brain power. A new study says that spending time on these apps could be hurting how well a tween's mind develops. This research shows that the more time kids spend on platforms like Instagram or TikTok, the worse they might do on school-related tasks later on. How Does Social Media Affect Our Health? The researchers found that children aged 9 to 13 who used social media more often did worse on tests that measured skills like reading, memory, and language. They were tested on these abilities two years after the study began. The results were published in a major medical journal called the Journal of the American Medical Association. The lead scientist, Dr. Jason Nagata, explained that even using social media for a short time each day was connected to poorer results on these brain-power tests. He suggested that the brains of young tweens might be extra sensitive to social media. This means parents need to be careful about when they let their kids start using these apps and how much time they spend on them. How Did Social Media Affect Kid’s Academics? To figure this out, the researchers looked at information from over 6,500 children across the country. These kids were all part of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, which is the biggest study ever done in the U.S. to track how children's brains grow over time. They sorted the kids into groups based on their social media use: Over half (58%) of the kids barely used social media at all.More than a third (37%) were using social media for about one extra hour every day by the time they turned 13.A small group (6%) were using social media for up to three extra hours a day by age 13.The children's brain power was measured using special tests created by the National Institutes of Health, which tested things like how well they remember information and understand language. The study found a clear, but small, drop in the test scores for kids who used social media. Kids who used social media for just one extra hour a day scored about 1 to 2 points lower on their memory and reading tests.Kids who used social media for up to three extra hours a day saw a bigger drop, scoring as much as 4 points lower. Why Is Important To Restrict Your Child’s Social Media Usage? Dr. Nagata explained that even though these differences seem small, they are very important because they were seen again and again across the children. Since reading and memory are the most important skills for learning, even these small dips in scores, when seen across thousands of kids, could be a problem for education as a whole. The scientists think the problem is that social media is so fun and engaging that kids might choose to scroll instead of doing homework or reading. This time shift could be hurting their learning. The researchers stress that creating good screen habits early on can help protect a child’s learning and brain growth. The results of this study support actions already being taken, such as schools trying to limit student phone use during the day. The findings also provide backing for bigger changes, like making the age limits for social media access even stricter than they are now. However, the researchers want to be clear about one thing: because they were only watching the kids' behavior (it was an observational study), they can't say for sure that social media causes the lower test scores. They can only say that there is a clear association between the two.
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