Exploring Social Media's Influence on Adolescent Brain Development

This essay explores the multifaceted impact of social media on adolescent brain development, focusing on areas such as social acceptance and rejection, peer influence, and emotional precedence. It delves into the neural systems associated with behavior, particularly those involved in emotion-based processing, social reward processing, and emotional regulation. The essay highlights how the still-developing neural systems in adolescents make them particularly sensitive to online interactions, emotional content in media environments, and peer influence. It also touches on the evolving forms of risk-taking in the digital age, such as sexting and excessive self-disclosure, and concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding both the positive and negative effects of social media on the developing adolescent brain.

Running Head: USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND BRAIN DEVELOPMENT 1
EFFECTS OF THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA TO BRAIN DEVELOPMENT IN
ADOLESCENCE
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Abstract
Adolescents of the current century generation are growing up in a world that is
saturated with the media. However, the extent of the media influence on the trajectories of
different regions of the brain which are involved in social interactions is unclear. The work
reviews adolescence neural development and shows how neuroscience provides more knowledge
on the sensitivities of development related to media use by adolescents. Adolescents have high
sensitivity to rejection and acceptance through the Social Media, with their high sensitivity to
emotions, reduced development of reflective processing development, and cognitive control
making them exhibit specific high reactions to emotion-arousing media. The review illustrates
the role of neuroscience in improving the knowledge of Social Media and peers mutual influence
on the formation of opinion and well-being of adolescents.
Introduction
The internet and technology are important tools to access information quickly,
although their increased use by adolescents is harming their emotional and physical
development. The increasing internet use has caused several issues in adolescents’ health,
including nutrition problems, unhealthy sleep patterns and effects in exercise, all which lead to
different concerns in adolescents’ development (Ahn, 2011). Adolescents normally spend more
time using social media, playing online video games and generally surfing the web, as compared
to participating in physical activities important for the development of their health like sports.
The internet activities that adolescents are engaging in are lacking the necessary requirements for
proper biological development. Sitting in the same position for prolonged periods of time hinders
the development of muscle and bone, with the lack of physical activities taking a toll on their
cardiovascular health. Teenagers enjoy engaging in using the internet which is different from the

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requirements for healthy physiological development. For example, keeping the same kind of
actions for prolonged times hence becoming static (Lemola, Perkinson-Gloor, Brand, Dewald-
Kaufmann & Grob, (2015). Therefore, the essay seeks to establish the effects of Social Media
use on the brain development in adolescents.
Online Acceptance and Rejection
According to Strasburger, Jordan and Donnerstein (2010) the experience of rejection
or acceptance while communicating through the internet has been having an impact on the social
experience of teenagers. Extensive research carried out demonstrates that the rejection
experienced in the communication through social media in an environment which is
computerized is similar to the face-to-face bullying and rejection. However, the extent of
cyberbullying is lower, with the rates of prevalence depending on how the cyberbullying is
measured and defined. Generally, increased cyberbullying is experienced during adolescence,
with large overlaps usually being witnessed between bullies and victims. Partly, the overlap can
be explained by adolescents who have been victimized and who seek exposure to risk behavior
and antisocial media content.
Online Social Rejection Neural Responses
The neural and emotional effects of social exclusion have been expressed well by
Cyberball Paradigm research. Cyberball Paradigm refers to a virtual game of ball-tossing
whereby the players, together with the other two players who are simulated, toss a ball via a
screen (Williams & Jarvis, 2006). After one round of fair play, the simulated players start
throwing the ball to each other, hence excluding and rejecting the human participant. The action
leads to the human player experiencing negative effects on the feelings of the participant.

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Although the paradigm’s design was not for the study of the occurrence of online rejection
occurring in today’s social media, the Cyberball studies have provided an important aspect to
understand the involved processes in online rejection. Through Cyberball inspiration, the
application of Facebook format in the study of the online social exclusion effects has led to the
recent development of a Social Media Ostracism paradigm.
After experiencing exclusion, researchers have noted an increased insula and
orbitofrontal cortex activity with the use of functional MRI (fMRI), which likely signals
increased negative effects and arousal (Berna, Leknes, Holmes, Edwards, Goodwin, & Tracey,
2010). Additionally, an observation of the increase in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
activity is made in adolescents bearing histories of insecure attachment, being maltreated or
socially excluded. However, ACC is observed to reduce when adolescents spent more time with
friends. Therefore, adolescents show a rejection expectation which is stronger as compared to
that of adults, with the medial frontal cortex and subgenual ACC being critically involved in the
processing of online rejection and exclusion.
Online Social Acceptance Neural Responses
The positive feeling of being socially accepted in the online community is depicted
through the number of likes a person receives, hashtags and positive comments, their popularity,
cool ratio and other reward forms (Atkinson, 2009). Neuropsychological research presented
online acceptance to evoke the activation of the same brain regions which are activated when a
person receives other rewards such as pleasant tastes and money. The activity found in the
ventral striatum was the most pronounced, consistently reported as the main region for reward
and pleasure subjective experience in the brain including social rewards. In the same way,

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acceptance through likes in the chat room results in the ventrial striatum activity increase in
adolescents, children, and adults. However, in adolescents, the response is blunted if they have
experienced depression or if they have a history of negative effects on their growth.
Prior social experiences including relations with parents are important to understanding
the adolescents who are increasingly sensitive to Social media’s impact. Therefore, media
research presents depression to be moderated by popularity, and that loneliness and attachment
styles increase the possibility of adolescents seeking socio-affective bonding with figures of the
media (Masten, Eisenberger, Borofsky, Pfeifer, McNealy, Mazziotta, & Dapretto, 2009).
Furthermore, different meta-analyses and studies using reward paradigms and gambling have
reported the peaking of the ventral striatum’s activity after monetary reward in adolescents. The
report, therefore, suggests that adolescent’s general sensitivity to rewards is centered on the
ventral striatum, with the sensitivity to social reward being a strong reinforcer to the use of social
media Dewall & Bushman, 2011).
Online Peer Influence
According to Shoemaker and Reese (2013) peer groups have a strong influence on
decision-making and opinions as they can exert a strong adolescence influence through Social
Media’s user-generated content. Neuroimaging studies in adolescents and peers indicated that
peer feedback influences adolescence behavior significantly.
Emotions Precedence and Impulsivity in Adolescents
Social media is also related to intense emotional experiences that occur in adolescence
during the brain development process. Furthermore, media use and processing may guide the
emotional needs of the adolescents. For example, the lonely feeling may provide an easy path for

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youths to connect to different social media platforms or significantly relying on social media for
social interactions. Furthermore, frequently engaging in social media may evoke strong
emotional reactions and feelings especially when an adolescent is experiencing online rejection
or playing violent video games. In particular, the majority of adolescents is guided by their
emotions on how they access, process and use the Social Media. For example, the increase in
exposure to Social Media is associated with a high degree of frustrations and anger experienced
by adolescents who have fallen victims to bullying hence portraying risk-taking behaviors over
time, antisocial and norm crossing, hence making the adolescents more likely to bully others in
future. According to Kirsh (2011) anger has more tolerance for anti-social media content in
adolescences as compared to adults.
Neural Responses Related to Retaliation and Emotion Regulation
Neuroscience provides insight into moral leniency which follows anger in adolescence.
According to Decety and Michalska (2010) development of the prefrontal cortex which is an
important region that regulates anger matures until adulthood. Furthermore, a better
understanding between brain regions regulating direct responses and that of brain regions
showing the responses can vividly explain behavioral regulations of adolescents when relating to
media-based interactions. A further research by Crone and Konijn (2018) has shown that
rejected-based anger is associated with retaliatory actions and adolescence are more aggressive
after facing rejection in Social Media. For example, adolescents may blast noise which is longer
and contributes less to people who have previously rejected them in an online environment.
Social rejections evoke anger although some adolescents are better when regulating emotions
than others and, therefore, those who control the emotions better are likely to have self-control.

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Social Media Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Recommendation
The current technology has been proven by various scientists to have both negative and
positive effects on the human brain. Therefore, technology has been beneficial and a threat to
humanity in the future depending on its frequent usage. Further research by Sternberg, Ballard,
Hardy, Katz, Doraiswamy, and Scanlon (2013) has shown that technology also affects human
intelligence either positively or negatively. Furthermore, technology has erupted to be a mind
change among adolescents and peer groups who spend most of their time on social networking
sites and computer games. Experts express the activities and differences that take place in brains
of adolescents after spending long hours accessing Social Media sites and computer games either
through mobile phones and computers.
The current Social Media technologies open understanding of sensitivities to the median
and all peers in the adolescence stage. For example, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and Instagram
provide a conducive environment for studying media contents and feedback from peers in
adolescence. Furthermore, the social media platforms have introduced user-generated content
and options for expressing and presenting oneself in the media environment hence increasing
media’s social functions tremendously. Accounting for ethical aspects, social media impinges on
users’ privacy and also can provide significant opportunities for understanding how exposure to
the media affects daily fluctuations in self-esteem and moods. The abundant use of Social Media
impacts adolescents’ development in terms of functional brain development, behaviors, and
structural brain developments. According to Van, Bolle, Hegner, and Kommers (2015) the
habitual use of social media is associated with decreasing in abilities of gratifications although it

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can have positive consequences like increasing ability for switching between tasks flexibly.
Further research by Kuss and Griffiths (2011) indicates that adolescents who spend more time on
Social Media may engage less in offline social interactions but high in online interactions. The
Social Media use can also result in an addiction disorder causing depression and other health
issues. According to Lemmens, Valkenburg and Gentile (2015) addiction of internet in
adolescents has resulted in psychological, occupational and social disorders.
The consequences differ always between those who experience offline interaction and
those experiencing online interactions and, therefore, important mediators and moderators should
understand how online and offline communications are processed and provide a viable solution.
When adolescents are online frequently they are likely to affect their sleep patterns which might
impact their moods. In future, the studies which are based on media use and outcomes should be
integrated through methods of neuroscientific and experimental insights which will advance the
understanding of adolescents who are susceptible, and under which circumstance to which it
affects, negatively or positively.
Conclusion
The paper has reviewed how Social Media use affects the development of
adolescents' brains. Social Media use influences adolescents through social acceptance and
rejection, peer influence on self-opinions and emotional precedence. The neural systems are
linked to behavior which is important for Social Media including emotion-based processing,
social reward processing, and regulations. Natural systems are still underdeveloped, and
therefore, undergoing changes during adolescence period hence contributing to sensitivity to
online acceptance, rejection, emotional-loaded interactions in media-environment and peer

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influence. The means of expressing risk-taking differs across generations, as in the current era,
the Social Media risk-taking is expressed in ways such as sexting or unlimited self-disclosure
which has developed to be adolescents’ specific tendency to learn and explore a new social
environment. Furthermore, peer sensitivities are larger in adolescents as compared to older age
groups. However, Social Media is still important to adolescents as it socially develops the need
to belong, reputation building and managing impressions.

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