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Can internet overuse cause changes to the brain?

12 January 2012

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Adolescents who spend lots of time on the internet may have structural changes in the part of their brain that control emotions, attention and decision making, according to a study published in the journal PLoS ONE.

Using brain scans, scientists found that adolescents who had internet addiction disorder showed changes to the structure of white matter in the brain. This is part of the brain that contains nerve fibres and plays an important role in emotions, attention and decision making.

The researchers suggest that internet addiction disorder may share psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of substance addiction, such as alcohol or drugs.

Dr Prerna Sharma, Senior Physician, Bupa Health and Wellbeing UK, commented: “As the scientists themselves say, this research is only preliminary and future studies are needed before we can draw any solid conclusions. Most importantly, a very small number of people were looked at in this study, so future research needs to include much larger groups of people before we can make any assumptions that internet addiction damages the brain. This study also only looked at adolescents, so we can’t generalise these findings and therefore we know little about how internet usage may affect children or working adults who may spend long periods of time on the internet or computer.

“It’s essential to note that this study used self-reporting questionnaires to classify people with internet addiction disorder, therefore the adolescents’ internet use may have been over- or under-estimated. This study doesn’t consider whether the changes to the white matter in the brain were caused by internet addiction disorder or any other underlying health problem. It’s also not clear from this study how many hours of internet usage a day would classify you as an ‘addict’. More research is also needed to investigate whether the brain mechanisms in internet addiction disorder are similar to those of other substance addictions, and if so, how.

“When it comes to your child or teenager’s health and wellbeing, encourage them to get outdoors, be physically active and spend time with family and friends. Regular exercise has lots of health benefits besides improving your physical health. These include helping you to sleep better, improving your self-esteem and generally making you feel happier.”

This study looked at 17 adolescents classified with internet addiction disorder and 16 adolescents without internet addiction disorder (controls) aged between 14 and 21. To classify those that had internet addiction disorder, researchers asked the adolescents to complete a questionnaire about their internet usage, such as asking whether they have tried to cut back or stop, and whether increasing amounts of time on the internet made them feel satisfied. The researchers then used specialised MRI scanners to collect several images of each of the adolescents’ brains to compare any changes between the two groups.

Produced by Alice Rossiter, Bupa Health Information Team.

Key facts

  • Internet addiction disorder is characterised by someone’s inability to control his or her use of the internet. This can result in distress if you can’t access a computer. Your general life, such as school or work performance and social interaction, may be affected.
  • White matter is a part of your brain that contains nerve fibres and plays an important role in emotional processing and addiction-related behaviours. White matter refers to those parts of your brain and spinal cord that are responsible for communication between grey matter (the processing part of your brain) and the rest of your body.
  • The Government advises adults to set time limits for children when using a computer and to make sure they take breaks every 30 minutes away from the screen.
  • As part of a healthy lifestyle, children and young people are recommended to do between 60 and 120 minutes (one to two hours) of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity every day. Adults are recommended to do 150 minutes (two and a half hours) of moderate exercise over a week in bouts of 10 minutes or more.

How can we help you?

Worried about the effects of an unhealthy lifestyle?

Get checked out with a Bupa Health Assessment. Our assessments are designed to help you understand and manage your health. Call 0845 600 3458 quoting ref HFS100 to book an appointment today.

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Read the study

Lin F, Zhou Y, Du Y. Abnormal white matter integrity in adolescents with internet addiction disorder: a tract-based spatial statistics study. PLoS ONE 2012; 7(1). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0030253

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