Psychological Effects of Technology Use in Teens Essay Example

Recent studies have analyzed how technology has affected teenagers levels of stress and pressures. Users of social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat reported more body image concerns and eating pathology than non‐users. Additionally, social media and technology has been tied to depressive symptoms, social anxiety, attention issues, addictive qualities, and other mental stressors (Fardouly, Jasmine). Many are oblivious to the serious impacts that technology and social media cause on adolescents' mental health, behavior, and even cognitive function.With the increasing correlation between these issues and technology, it is most important to be educated and made aware through these thorough studies. Technology has positively benefited many in forms of connectivity and telecommunication. However, mental health issues, along with behavioral changes in reward processing, increases in attention problems, and ADHD are just as prevalent and concerning. Due to the concomitant relationship between increases in technology use and increases in mental stressors, this leads us to question how technology affects teengagers levels of stress and pressure.

In the article “The Power of the Like in Adolescence: Effects of Peer Influence on Neural and Behavioral Responses to Social Media”, Lauren E. Sherman successfully outlines how social media has significant and potentially harmful impacts on the brain. Not only does the ‘like’ system on instagram affect self esteem, but also affects reward processing and circuitry in the brain. In the study, researchers developed a ‘novel functional MRI (fMRI) paradigm’ to simulate Instagram and measured adolescents’ behavioral and neural responses to likes. What scientists found was that when adolescents were shown photos, they were more likely to like photos depicted with many likes than photos with few likes (Sherman). Viewing photos with many (compared to few) likes was associated with greater activity in neural regions of the brain also associated with reward processing, social cognition, imitation, and attention (Sherman). This study showed the extent to which adolescents' neural regions are actually being affected by positive feedback on social media. Because of this, adolescents exhibit involuntary cognitive stress when they do not receive this positive feedback. Extensive studies such as this one shows how social media and technology does not just affect how teenagers feel, but actually makes physical/chemical changes to one's cognitive function. Social media has been proven to put stress on neural regions notably in adolescents due to data points such as ‘likes’.

Cognitive stressors and changes due to the influence of technology expand far beyond behavioral issues and temporary reactions, but also have serious health implications. ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is a medical condition in which a person has differences in brain development and brain activity that affect attention, the ability to sit still, and self-control (Weinstein A, Yaacov Y, Manning M, Danon P, Weizman A.). A study found in the national library of medicine reported emerging evidence for an association between computer/videogame addiction and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In the study, scientists compared 50 male elementary students around 13 years old diagnosed with ADHD to 50 male students without ADHD (Weinstein A, Yaacov Y, Manning M, Danon P, Weizman A.). They were measured on their levels of internet addiction, internet use and sleep patterns. Children with ADHD had higher scores on the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), used the internet for longer hours, and went to sleep later than those without ADHD (Weinstein A, Yaacov Y, Manning M, Danon P, Weizman A.). These findings indicate an association of ADHD, sleep disorders and internet/video game addiction. 

The increase in the number of Internet users has increased Internet dependence worldwide. In adolescents, this dependence may interfere with sleep, which is important for the development of psychophysiological capabilities. A study referenced in the National Library of Medicine examined how social media use is related to sleep quality, self-esteem, anxiety and depression in 467 Scottish adolescents (Woods HC, Scott H.). Another survey was conducted in one prefecture in Japan to determine the relationship between sleep disturbance and IA in adolescents based on the categories of the Young Diagnostic Questionnaire (Tokiya M, Itani O, Otsuka Y, Kaneita Y). In both studies (as well as many others), adolescents who used social media more/those who were more emotionally invested in social media experienced poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety and depression. The most notable overlap in these studies was the sleep disorder of insomnia. These findings go to show just how much social media and technology adds additional stressors to the brain and affect adolescents in more ways than one might realize.