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Researchers have found an imbalance in the brain chemistry of young people addicted to smartphones and the internet. More people are becoming increasingly dependent on smartphones and other portable electronic devices for news, information, games, and phone call.
Along with a growing concern that young people, in particular, may be spending too much time staring into their phones instead of interacting with others, come questions as to the immediate effects on the brain and the possible long-term consequences of such habits.
Researchers used magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to gain unique insight into the brains of smartphone – and internet-addicted teenagers. MRS is a type of MRI that measures the brain’s chemical composition. The study involved young people diagnosed with internet or smartphone addiction and gender- and age-matched healthy controls.
Twelve of the addicted youth received nine weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy, modified from a cognitive therapy program for gaming addiction, as part of the study. Researchers used standardized internet and smartphone addiction tests to measure the severity of internet addiction.
Questions focused on the extent to which internet and smartphone use affects daily routines, social life, productivity, sleeping patterns and feelings. The higher the score, the more severe the addiction. Smartphone addiction creates an imbalance in brain. Addicted teenagers had significantly higher scores in depression, anxiety, insomnia severity and impulsivity.
The researchers performed MRS exams on the addicted youth prior to and following behavioral therapy and a single MRS study on the control patients to measure levels of gamma aminobutyric acid, or GABA, a neurotransmitter in the brain that inhibits or slows down brain signals, and glutamate-glutamine (Glx), a neurotransmitter that causes neurons to become more electrically excited.
Previous studies have found GABA to be involved in vision and motor control and the regulation of various brain functions, including anxiety. The results of the MRS revealed that, compared to the healthy controls, the ratio of GABA to Glx was significantly increased in the anterior cingulate cortex of smartphone- and internet-addicted youth prior to therapy.
The ratios of GABA to creatine and GABA to glutamate were significantly correlated to clinical scales of internet and smartphone addictions, depression and anxiety. Having too much GABA can result in a number of side effects, including drowsiness and anxiety.
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