Experts warn social media use linked to cognitive decline in kids

Any time spent on social media could cause cognitive decline in children, alarming new research shows.

Researchers from the University of California tracked social media usage of 6500 children aged nine to 13 over a four year period, finding both small and large increases in social media resulted in lower scores across a range of reading, memory and vocabulary tests.

The study split participants into three groups — very low, low and high users and found all groups who increased their usage showed decline in cognitive performance.

It was noted that social media applications are designed to keep the user engaged which not only distracts children from time spent learning or completing school work but can also disrupt sleep.

“This analysis found that both low and high increases in social media use throughout early adolescence were significantly associated with lower performance in specific aspects of cognitive function, supporting a prior finding that greater screen time was negatively but weakly associated with adolescent cognitive performance,” the researchers said.

“The finding that even low levels of early adolescent social media exposure were linked to poorer cognitive performance may suggest support for stricter age restrictions.”

The findings from the US come as Australia became the first country in the world to introduce a social media ban for children aged under 16.