Significant relationships between social media use, sleep length, and brain activity throughout frontolimbic areas essential for executive control and reward processing have been found in an adolescent study.

Notably, a review of data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) project showed a high correlation between increased social media use and changes in brain activity and shorter sleep duration.

Orsolya Kiss, PhD, a research scientist at SRI International, Center for Health Sciences, Menlo Park, California, said in a statement, "Our findings suggest that poor sleep and high social media engagement could potentially alter neural reward sensitivity as these young brains undergo significant changes."

"Understanding these factors is essential for assessing the impact of social media on the health and well-being of adolescents, marking a significant step forward in our approach to digital health and adolescent development," says Kiss.