Social Media and the Developing Brain

This chapter aims to unpack how adolescents’ neurobiological development may interact with their social media experiences to shape developmental outcomes. We discuss how unique neurobiological changes that occur during adolescence may impact adolescents’ sensitivity when perceiving, processing, and responding to social information in digital contexts. We review findings from neuroimaging studies that show links between social media experiences and brain function. Our review suggests bidirectional links by which the adolescent brain may be tuned to experience social media in unique ways, and the social media experiences may further tune and shape the developing brain, thereby impacting subsequent health and well-being.