TRANSCRIPT
Scrolling social media is a guilty pleasure ... that can quickly spiral into distraction and people are certainly becoming more aware of it.
"Definitely scroll on Instagram way too frequently, way more than I need to, yeah it's in the back of my mind but I'm not super conscious about it."
"You just lose focus for even a second - you just go in there - it's like a doom scroll, you start doom scrolling for an hour or something, so you're just unproductive after that, that's it."
It's a new age challenge - with an impact that's yet to be fully understood.
Dr Alexandra Gaillard of Swinburne University says her new research sought to explore the effects of screen time on the brain.
"The main takeaways that our research really showed that time spent on social media may be a waste of resources for the brain can lead to decreased focus and increase in stress."
The research has found 18 to 25 year olds exposed to phone screens for just three minutes, experienced changes in mood, energy, tension, focus and happiness.
The pilot study of 27 people compared responses to gaming, television and social media on these devices.
Dr Gaillard said this tracked brain activity by using small electrodes that track oxygen levels.
"With social media there was the biggest increase in blood flow to those regions, but it doesn't actually get used - compared to something like gaming where a lot of blood goes to the region but it's actually used up, people engaging there's problem solving, they're doing things with that oxygen and that brain area."
The findings indicate even short periods of screen time can have measurable effects.
But Professor Michael Dezuanni of Queensland University of Technology says the full impact on young people is a nuanced and evolving field of research.
"We need to think about how social media can have negative impacts on young people, but when it comes to learning - we can't just have a kind of generalised view."
From December the 10th, a federal government ban on under 16s accessing social media takes effect.Associate Professor Suzanne Schweizer of UNSW Sydney says it’s important efforts continue to better understand the impact of social media.
"Because young people spend so much time interacting online - we need to know does it actually influence their brain development and if so again how so those are reasons why it's important that we invest more in experimental research."
