Social media, not gaming, tied to rising attention problems in teens, new study finds
This study of 8,000 teens reveals that social media use is associated with increased inattentiveness, potentially explaining the global rise in ADHD diagnoses. Unlike gaming, social media introduces constant distractions, impairing focus and potentially having long-term effects. The effect of social media on attention is not large enough to push a person with normal attention into ADHD territory, but if the entire population becomes more inattentive, many will cross the diagnostic border.
Our main finding was that social media use was associated with a gradual increase in inattentiveness. Gaming or watching videos was not. These patterns remained the same even after accounting for children’s genetic risk for ADHD and their families’ income.
We also tested whether inattentiveness might cause children to use more social media instead. It didn’t. The direction ran one way: social media use predicted later inattentiveness.