How internet addiction rewires teenage brains [Video]

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Internet addiction rewires teenagers’ brains, suggests new research.

Signaling between different areas of the brain related to controlling attention and understanding our own emotions was altered in youngsters addicted to being online, say scientists.

Their findings, published in the journal PLOS Mental Health, indicate that internet addiction is associated with disrupted signaling in the regions of the brain involved in multiple neural networks.

Study co-author Max Chang said: “These networks play an important role in controlling our attention, in association with intellectual ability, working memory, physical coordination, and emotional processing – all of which in turn have an impact on mental health.”

Chang, an associate researcher at University College London (UCL), added: “Internet use has been skyrocketing, with adolescents spending more and more of their waking hours online.

“With this has come an increase in adolescent internet addiction.

“Given that adolescent brains are more capable of changing than those of adults, understanding the effects of internet addiction …