ArticleHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland)2023
The Effects of Digital Addiction on Brain Function and Structure of Children and Adolescents: A Scoping Review.
Article in Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- The neurobiology of internet addiction: a scoping review of developmental and gender-specific mechanisms.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Linking mental health and digital addiction in general population: an overview of thematic evolution and trends from a science mapping perspective.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Interventions for Digital Addiction: Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Pharmacotherapy for online behavioral addictions: a systematic review.Future science OA · 2026Review
- Stress, Anxiety, Depression, and Digital Fatigue Among Nursing Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Associations Between Problematic Internet Use, Attentional Control, and Mental Health Symptoms in Romanian Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Development and psychometric evaluation of an attitude scale on the use of new media technologies for teacher candidates - Turkish Form (ANMT-TC).BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Tooth segmentation and dental crowding diagnosis using two-stage dual-dilated graph convolution.International journal of computer assisted radiology and surgery · 2026Article
- Relationship between attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance, mentalization ability, and various digital addictions: a cross-sectional study among university students.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Body-technology interfaces: digital corporeality and emerging psychopathology.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- When digital engagement meets climate concern: hopelessness as an indirect link between digital addiction and eco-anxiety in adolescents.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Neural Correlates of Personality Traits in Adolescents Exhibiting Excessive Smartphone Use: A Resting-State FMRI Study.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- A Narrative Review of Digital Addiction and Health: A New Challenge for Modern Medicine.Cureus · 2025Review
- Mediating Roles of Self-Control and Social Support in the Relationship Between Problematic Internet Use and Depression Among Korean Children and Adolescents.Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2025Article
- Predictors of Problematic Internet Use Among Romanian High School Students.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Has the Clock Drawing Test been left aside with the replacement of analog clocks by smartphones?Dementia & neuropsychologia · 2025Article
- Determinants and relationships of digital addiction, diet quality, and physical activity in adolescents.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Interplay between Children's Electronic Media Use and Prosocial Behavior: The Chain Mediating Role of Parent-Child Closeness and Emotion Regulation.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Digital Addiction in Children and Affecting Factors.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Mother Phubbing and Child Problematic Media Use: The Role of Mother-Child Relationship and Paternal Coparenting.Psychology research and behavior management · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The escalating prevalence of studies investigating digital addiction (DA) and its detrimental impact on the human brain's structure and functionality has been noticeable in recent years. Yet, an overwhelming majority of these reviews have been predominantly geared towards samples comprising college students or adults and have only inspected a single variant of DA, such as internet gaming disorder, internet addiction disorder, problematic smartphone use, tablet overuse, and so forth. Reviews focusing on young children and adolescents (ages 0-18), or those which amalgamate various types of DA, are decidedly scarce. Given this context, summarizing the effects of DA on brain structure and functionality during the vital developmental stage (0-18 years) is of immense significance. A scoping review, complying with the PRISMA extension for such reviews, was conducted to amalgamate findings from 28 studies spanning a decade (2013-2023) and to examine the influence of assorted forms of DA on the brains of children and adolescents (0-18 years). The synthesized evidence indicated two primary results: (1) DA exerts harmful effects on the structure and functionality of the brains of children and adolescents, and (2) the prefrontal lobe is the region most consistently reported as impacted across all research. Furthermore, this review discerned a notable void of studies investigating the neural indices of digital addiction, along with a shortage of studies focusing on young children (0-6 years old) and longitudinal evidence. This research could provide the necessary theoretical basis for the thwarting and intervention of digital addiction, a measure indispensable for ensuring healthy brain development in children and adolescents.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.