Many adults can recall the days when Screen Time was limited to Saturday morning comics and the days when classes visited the Computer Lab every week to play the Oregon Trail. It was a tired cow, a snake bit, a tired cow for 30 minutes of shocking seizures.
Over the past decades, Screen Time has expanded from the occasional treat to all-day events. People of all ages stare at the screen for work, school and entertainment. Within the last 20 years, scientists have been increasingly studying the effects of screen time on the brain.
But what happens when a person is away from the screen? Researchers are discovering what happens neurologically when people go to digital detox.
read more: Understanding what people do with their devices is key to digital happiness
Scan for screen impact
To learn more about how a human brain benefits from reducing screen time, scientists have been studying how phones, tablets and televisions affect human cognitive function. Techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can help researchers identify differences between people who spend a lot of time or a little time in front of a screen.
in Surveys in 2018 in Acta Paediatricascientists used fMRI to study functional connectivity in 19 children aged 8-12. Prior to the study, parents completed a survey on how much screen time their children have each day, and how much time they spend independently reading.
When the children were on the fMRI, they were in a rest state where they were not actively looking at screens or books. Researchers were interested in the level of connectivity in parts of the brain associated with language and literacy. They found that older children who spent more time in front of the screen had lower connectivity in these areas than children who read more.
Similarly2023 research in Child Neuropsychology Rest status data was collected from children aged 8 to 12 years and learned about screen time and the effects on brain regions associated with attention and cognitive control. This study found that the more screen time a child has, the less connectivity they have in these neural networks.
Researchers are also turning to diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Types of MRI It can visualize the white matter. Research in 2020 in Jama Pediatrics, Researchers used DTI to examine local white brain substances that support language and lieterism in preschool children. This study found that children with screen time of more than 1 hour per day had lower myelination in the white matter area. This means that neural signals are slow.
Adults are also not affected by screen time. For young adults between the ages of 18 and 25, There’s research Higher levels of screen time were found related to addiction, lower self-esteem, mental health issues, and slow learning.
Digital detox of the brain
Researchers were able to measure what happens to the brains of children and young adults as they stepped out of the screen and stepped into the fMRI machine. But what is happening in the brain when a person is in the phone too deep? And how is it different from when they’re reading a book?
Research in 2025 in Developmental science, The team of researchers sought to measure brain function in study participants while engaging in either screen-related or book-based activities.
“That’s why our research is so exciting because it’s the first study to actually compare how a child’s brain works. meanwhile “They’re doing this,” said Meredith Pikconis, a postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the Autism Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Autism in Lexington, Massachusetts, and postdoctoral researcher.
The team recruited 28 children, ages 3-6, and then prepared to wear functional near-infrared spectroscopy (FNIRS) caps. As many parents can prove, it is impossible to have a small child wear a hat during the winter. Therefore, it takes some delicateness to have a child wear a cap attached to a probe or wire. The Pecukonis team gave the children a practice cap with light and rainbow strings. Children wear hats on themselves, their parents, plush toys.
“If the child decides he’s comfortable wearing a practice cap, he moves on to wearing an actual cap,” says Pikconis.
With the actual caps placed, the children were hearing stories being read by members of the research team, but they continued into the book with matching words and photos. In screen time conditions, small participants listened to audio recordings of the story while looking at the words and photos on the screen.
Both conditions read stories with photographs and words. You may think of the same difference, but this study found that brain activation is clear. During book reading, the right temporoparietal junction was activated, but this did not occur in screen time conditions.
“Considering that this area of the brain was found to be active during reading of shared books suggests that children were engaged in these social cognitive processes while reading of shared books, not during screen time,” says Pecukonis. “This area of the brain is more commonly involved in attention, so it’s possible that children were more careful while reading shared books.”
Digital diet
For parents who are concerned about the impact of screen time on their child’s development, Pecukonis recommends Follow the guidelines Set by the American Academy of Pediatrics: There is no screen time for children over the age of 2.
However, Pikconis also acknowledges that life can get in the way, allowing a little shark to give parents time to fold their laundry and dinner baskets of cooking. If possible, she recommends co-viewing with her child. Get your ears on and ask about the show and the character’s emotional state. Talk about this program after you’ve finished and apply it to your real life.
“[…] Co-viewing should be used to promote learning and social interaction wherever possible,” she says.
read more: Guilt over screen time is common – but it can have a silver lining
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Emilie Lucchesi writes for some of the nation’s largest newspapers, including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Missouri and an MA from DePaul University. She also holds a PhD. Within communications from the University of Illinois University of Chicago, I focus on media framing, message construction and stigma communication. Emily has written three non-fiction books. Surviving her third Light in the Dark: Ted Bundy, released on October 3, 2023 by the Chicago Review Press, co-authored with survivor Kathy Kleiner Rubin.
