Social media use linked to gradual decline in children’s attention span

Children who spend a significant amount of time on social media tend to experience a gradual decline in their ability to concentrate. This is according to a comprehensive study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Pediatrics Open Science, where researchers followed more than 8,000 children from around age 10 through age 14.

The use of screens and digital media has risen sharply in the past 15 years, coinciding with an increase in ADHD diagnoses in Sweden and elsewhere. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Oregon Health & Science University in the U.S. have now investigated a possible link between screen habits and ADHD-related symptoms.

The study followed 8,324 children aged 9–10 in the U.S. for four years, with the children reporting how much time they spent on social media, watching TV/videos and playing video games, and their parents assessing their levels of attention and hyperactivity/impulsiveness.

Social media stands out

Children who spent a significant amount of time on social media platforms, such as Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter or Messenger, gradually developed inattention symptoms; there was no such association, however, for watching television or playing video games.

“Our study suggests that it is specifically social media that affects children’s ability to concentrate,” says Torkel Klingberg, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet. “Social media entails constant distractions in the form of messages and notifications, and the mere thought of whether a message has arrived can act as a mental distraction. This affects the ability to stay focused and could explain the association.”

Significance at population level

The association was not influenced by socioeconomic background or a genetic predisposition towards ADHD. Additionally, children who already had symptoms of inattentiveness did not start to use social media more, which suggests that the association leads from use to symptoms and not vice versa.

The researchers found no increase in hyperactive/impulsive behavior. The effect on concentration was small at the individual level. At a population level, however, it could have a significant impact.

“Greater consumption of social media might explain part of the increase we’re seeing in ADHD diagnoses, even if ADHD is also associated with hyperactivity, which didn’t increase in our study,” says Professor Klingberg.

Well-informed decisions

The researchers stress that the results do not imply that all children who use social media develop concentration difficulties, but there is reason to discuss age limits and platform design. In the study, the average time spent on social media rose from approximately 30 minutes a day for 9-year-olds to 2.5 hours for 13-year-olds, despite the fact that many platforms set their minimum age requirement at 13.

“We hope that our findings will help parents and policymakers make well-informed decisions on healthy digital consumption that support children’s cognitive development,” says the study’s first author Samson Nivins, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska Institutet.

The researchers now plan to follow the children after the age of 14 to see if this association holds.