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Problematic smartphone use can shrink the brain, according to a comprehensive meta-study (study of studies).
As well as reducing gray matter within the brain, problematic smartphone use—read: addiction—alters neural circuits involved with reward processing, executive control and emotional regulation, neuroimaging shows.
The meta-study is published in the journal Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry.
Problematic smartphone use is generally studied as a phenomenon of addiction, with a focus on the neurobiology—the way the brain physically responds—and how this is altered over time. There have been many studies along these lines, but the new meta-study is the first to synthesise them and draw wide-ranging conclusions.
“Problematic smartphone use is increasingly discussed as a clinically relevant behavioral pattern, yet its neurobiological basis remains incompletely understood. Existing research has identified structural and functional brain alterations, but the field is still characterized by conceptual heterogeneity, varying terminology, and a limited integration of neuroscientific findings with psychologically meaningful models,” said study author Robert Christian Wolf, deputy director of the Department of General Psychiatry at Heidelberg University Hospital
“We were particularly struck by the fact that, despite the inherently social nature of smartphone use, social cognitive mechanisms have received comparatively little attention in neuroimaging research on problematic smartphone use. This review was motivated by the need to systematically synthesize current multimodal imaging findings and to place them within a broader framework that incorporates social reinforcement, fear of missing out, and sensitivity to social exclusion.”
The review of studies showed consistent results.
Psychology website Psypost explains, “Individuals exhibiting problematic smartphone use tended to show reduced gray matter volume in specific brain areas, including the insular cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the orbitofrontal cortex. The insular cortex is involved in emotional awareness and regulating the body’s internal states, while the orbitofrontal cortex plays a role in decision-making and assigning value to rewards. Additionally, studies using diffusion tensor imaging, which maps white matter tracts, suggested alterations in the neural pathways connecting frontal brain regions to limbic areas involved in emotion.
“Functional imaging studies provided further insights into cognitive processing in affected individuals. When their brains were scanned in a resting state without a specific task, they showed altered connectivity within networks responsible for attention and executive control. When faced with tasks requiring high cognitive effort, individuals with problematic use frequently demonstrated reduced activation in prefrontal control regions. This pattern suggests a diminished capacity to inhibit impulses or maintain focus under demanding conditions.”
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