May 20, 2014

does internet use change teenage brains?

Stories about the internet destroying teenage brains are not uncommon – but what does the evidence say? Does internet use actually cause lasting changes to the brain?

A new study published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Neuroscience looked for published evidence on whether typical internet use in healthy teenagers causes is associated with cognitive effects, and found that there is to date no robust evidence that can address this question.

The author of the new study and a leading expert in adolescent brain development came to the SMC to talk about:

• Is teenage internet use associated with brain changes?
• Does the internet damage teenagers’ social development?
• Has the internet changed how we think and solve problems?
• Is ‘internet addiction’ a real problem?
• How can future studies address the gaps in current understanding?

Speakers:

Kathryn Mills, study author, PhD student at UCL studying structural and functional changes in regions of the social brain across adolescence

Dr Iroise Dumontheil, specialist in childhood and adolescent brain development, Lecturer in Psychological Sciences at Birkbeck, University of London and Honorary member of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience