Adolescent Brain Development and Social Media Use with Eva Telzer, PhD

09/25/24 • 44 min

Adolescence is an exciting period of life shaped by risks, rewards, and rapid changes in the brain. On this episode of Screen Deep, we explore how adolescent brains affect and are affected by their digital media use with Eva Telzer, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Co-Director of the Winston National Center on Technology Use, Brain, and Psychological Development.
An expert on adolescent neuroscience, behavior, and media use, Telzer discusses insights from her large and growing body of research, including multi-year projects investigating the dynamic relationship between teens’ social media use and the makeup of their brain. How does social media trigger the reward system of the brain? Can teens’ habitual smartphone behaviors impact their developing brains? Are some teens more prone to problematic smartphone use than others? Tune in to hear how Telzer’s research helps answer these questions.
In this episode you will learn:

Why social reward cues (likes, comments, etc) have a unique impact on the developing adolescent brain
How research utilizing functional MRI is expanding our knowledge about changes in the brains of adolescents habitually engaging in social media use
What neurological factors put some teens at a higher risk for problematic social media use than others
How research dispels popular stereotypes of adolescents as high risk takers and dependent on peer influence
How the reward system in the brain works and ways it can be redirected for positive social behaviors and connections online by adolescents

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)
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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Why social reward cues (likes, comments, etc) have a unique impact on the developing adolescent brain
How research utilizing functional MRI is expanding our knowledge about changes in the brains of adolescents habitually engaging in social media use
What neurological factors put some teens at a higher risk for problematic social media use than others
How research dispels popular stereotypes of adolescents as high risk takers and dependent on peer influence
How the reward system in the brain works and ways it can be redirected for positive social behaviors and connections online by adolescents

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)
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Follow Children and Screens on:

Previous Episode

Screen Time and Sleep - Quality, Quantity, and Context with Lauren Hale, PhD

Sleep is an essential part of life, and the quality and quantity of a person’s nightly sleep has wide-ranging impacts on cognition, behavior, and health. On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry discusses children and teens’ sleep and its relationship to digital media with Dr. Lauren Hale, Professor of Family, Population, and Preventative Medicine at Stony Brook University and Founding Editor in Chief of the Sleep Health Journal.

Dr. Hale provides an overview of research into the impacts of digital media on teens’ sleep, including insights from a 2024 scientific consensus panel that evaluated how different aspects of digital device use influence sleep. She also discusses the societal implications of teens’ poor sleep health, and the policy changes that could improve them.

In this episode you'll learn:

Why sleep is important for cognitive and overall health - and why sleep regularity may be as important as duration
Which populations are getting less sleep and possible consequences
What the latest research tells us about technology use and sleep - delayed sleep, sleep duration, impaired sleep quality, digital sleep interruption, and blue light
What types of screen use and media content are associated with poorer sleep quality for youth
Why abolishing Daylight Savings Time and changing school start times may positively impact youth sleep health

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)
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Next Episode

The Neuroscience of Adolescent Digital and Behavioral Addictions with Dr. Marc Potenza

Concern about youth digital addiction is a relatively recent but significant addition to the list of common worries for parents of adolescents in the past few decades. What exactly is digital addiction, and how does it relate to other forms of addiction such as gambling and substance-use disorders?
On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry sits down with Marc Potenza, MD, PhD, to discuss his pioneering research on Internet and behavioral addiction. Marc discusses the brain science behind adolescent vulnerability to digital addiction and its similarities to other addictions, and differences between individuals that might explain why some teens are more prone to problematic use of digital media. He also describes his work with colleagues on determining the diagnostic criteria for behavioral addictions, gambling in video games, and resources for parents.
In this episode you will learn:

How Dr. Potenza and other researchers first identified gaming and other internet use disorders.
What brain imaging can tell us about the specific brain patterns associated with behavioral addictions in adolescents.
How natural changes in the adolescent brain make teens more vulnerable to digital and behavioral addictions.
What factors contribute to the development of addictive disorders in young people.
Why some youth are more resilient to risk factors for addiction than others.
About groundbreaking new research showing similarities in brain patterns between adults who started drinking heavily early in life and 9-10 year-olds with heavy internet use and behavioral issues.

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)
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Screen Deep - Adolescent Brain Development and Social Media Use with Eva Telzer, PhD

Transcript

[Kris Perry] Hello and welcome to the Screen Deep podcast where we go on deep dives with experts in the field who are searching for answers to the complex questions surrounding the developing mind, body, and future of children as they navigate a digital world. I'm Kris Perry, Executive Director of Children and Screens and the host of Screen Deep. Today, I welcome our guest, Dr. Eva Telzer, a giant in the field of adolescent neuroscience, behavior, and media use. Eva is a prof