Kids, screens, and dopamine

Everything you need to know

Hi! I’m Jacqueline Nesi, a psychologist and professor at Brown University, co-founder of Tech Without Stress (@techwithoutstress), and mom of two young kids.

---

7 min read

Hi there, sapiens. How was your weeke–

[A faint sound echoes in the distance. People’s voices, rising in unison. Is it singing? It’s steadily getting louder. As the crowd draws closer, you can just start to make it out. Suddenly, it’s obvious. It’s not singing, it’s…chanting]

Hold on, do you hear that?

[BUST THOSE MYTHS! BUST THOSE MYTHS!]¹

It’s time, techno sapiens.

Buckle up, we’re busting more myths

We’re back with another installment of Myth-Busting March. Last week we talked about cognitive development and fast-paced TV shows. This week, we’ve got an even bigger fish to fry: dopamine.²

Read anything the Internet has to say about kids and screens, and you’re bound to come across a statement that looks something like this:

Dopamine, the brain’s “feel-good” chemical, surges to dangerously high levels when kids use screens, causing screen addiction and other negative outcomes.³⁴

So, what do we actually know about dopamine and screen time? Let’s investigate.

What is dopamine, exactly?

Dopamine is a chemical (a “neurotransmitter”) that is produced by cells deep inside the brain. Many different things can cause these cells to release dopamine, and once they do, it travels to other parts of the brain. The role it plays in our mood or behavior depends on where in the brain it goes. One pathway it travels in the brain is the “reward” pathway, which is involved in motivating behavior (more on that below). But it’s involved in lots of other things, too. Here’s a short list of processes in our body that dopamine affects: movement, behavior, cognition, sleep, dreaming, prolactin (i.e., milk production), learning, and memory.

In other words, dopamine is essential to our functioning as humans. It’s also involved in a lot more than just “pleasure.”⁵

But dopamine does make us feel good, right?

What is the deal with dopamine and “rewards”? We get a “like” on our Instagram photo, dopamine surges, and that’s what makes us feel happy, right? 

Yes and no.

Dopamine is a key part of the “reward system” in our brains. This system would not work without dopamine. But there are many different brain structures (e.g., the anterior cingulate cortex, the orbital prefrontal cortex, the ventral striatum, the ventral pallidum) that are also involved in this system. There are also many other chemicals in the brain (like dopamine) that play a role in rewards, from the trendy serotonin to the lesser-known GABA and glutamate.

Not to mention, increasing research suggests dopamine is actually more about motivation than pleasure. Dopamine is not necessarily the thing that makes you feel good, it’s just the thing that makes you want to do something again. If you block dopamine activity and give someone a hot fudge sundae, they will still enjoy the sundae, but they won’t have any particular interest in eating another one in the future. In other words: despite what the Internet has told us, dopamine is not the “feel-good chemical.”

One thing (among many) that happens when a person uses addictive drugs is that the reward system is flooded with dopamine, creating a strong craving for that drug in the future. With chronic use, the brain becomes desensitized to dopamine (releasing less of it and experiencing less of its effects), requiring more and more to satisfy that craving.

So, what’s happening with dopamine when kids use screens?

We often hear some version of the idea that kids’ dopamine systems respond to screens the same way they would to drugs. From what we just learned (and our general ~*vibe*~ here at Techno Sapiens), you can probably guess that this is only partially true.

Do we have direct evidence for the role of dopamine in screen use? We have some, but less than you might think given dopamine’s starring role in the discourse around kids and screens. It’s actually very challenging to measure dopamine activity, especially in kids, so a lot of the relevant research is done with mice.⁶

We have some evidence that, for example, dopamine activity is impaired in people with Internet Gaming Disorder (i.e., excessive use of video games). We also have evidence that the broader reward system is activated when kids get “likes” on social media—though we haven’t measured dopamine directly here. And we have some studies that show that kids who use screens a lot have differences in reward-related parts of their brains, but here, we don’t know for sure if the screens are causing those changes (or vice versa), and (again) no measures of dopamine directly.

However, we can be relatively confident about a few things.

Based on what we know about the brain’s reward system, we know that dopamine is released when we do anything pleasurable (e.g., eat, sleep, go shopping, see friends). In doing so, dopamine is essentially saying “You liked doing that! Remember this activity because you should do it again!” Using screens is fun for kids, so we can assume this is happening there, too.

We also know that certain types of screen use—social media, for example—were designed with elements that make kids more likely to use them excessively. And just to be clear, this is not good! Ideally, technology is not designed in such a way that it makes it really hard for kids to put it down. We know from decades of research on “variable reward schedules” that when rewards are unpredictable, we will do a behavior over and over to get the reward (think slot machines)—in part because of dopamine activity. Because social media rewards (likes, views, messages from friends, new videos) are unpredictable, we keep coming back to check. So, we can safely assume dopamine is involved here, too. 

What about “screen addiction”?

Is the level of dopamine activity with screens comparable to that of drug use? Again, we don’t have great data to answer this, but given what we know about “behavioral addictions” (gambling, shopping) versus substance addictions (drugs, alcohol), the answer for most people is probably no. Drugs work directly on the dopamine system, while behaviors, by definition, work indirectly.  

For many kids, as long as screens are being used in moderation, with plenty of time for other “rewarding” activities (time outside, time in-person with friends, etc.), the role of dopamine is probably not something to be too concerned about. However, there are certainly some kids for whom screen use, gaming, and/or social media become very problematic, and a small percentage for whom it may even be classified as an “addiction.” And from everything we’ve just learned, we can feel confident that dopamine plays some role in these situations, too.  

Summing up

Dopamine almost certainly plays a role in kids’ screen use, but so do many other chemicals and systems in the brain. These chemicals and systems (including dopamine) also play a role in lots of other activities,⁷ from getting hugs to eating snacks. Just because dopamine is involved does not mean screens are dangerous or toxic. Dopamine is not a cause for panic. It’s just…how the brain works.

At the same time, a small percentage of kids do use technology in ways that are problematic and highly interfering, and which might be classified as an “addiction,” and dopamine is involved here, too.⁸ Plus, some types of screen use (e.g., social media) are designed to be highly rewarding and hard to stop. Technologies targeted to kids should not be designed this way.

So, what can we do as parents? We can strive for moderation. We can aim to find a balance of screen time and type that works for us and our kids. We can make sure they have plenty of time for other rewarding activities (time outside, socializing in-person, etc.). And we can try to remember that most things—our kids’ behaviors, the brain, and, of course, dopamine—are more complicated than the Internet would have use believe.

---

A quick survey

What did you think of this week’s Techno Sapiens? Your feedback helps me make this better. Thanks!

The Best | Great | Good | Meh | The Worst

1. In last week’s survey, someone noted that I seemed to be trying too hard to be “cool, ironic, and swaggy.” If laughing out loud to myself about people chanting “BUST THOSE MYTHS” (for the second week in a row) is “swaggy,” then this is accurate.

2. “Dopamine” turned out to be a slightly larger fish to fry this week than I had intended. Note to self: do not attempt to refamiliarize yourself with an entire field of research in one week, especially not a week when you’re traveling to Florida with your family. In related news: eating some very tasty fried fish in Florida!

3. I spent a lot of time—I mean, a lot of time—this week reading through what the Internet has to say about dopamine. And let me tell you, sapiens, myths abound!

4. Speaking of myths on the Internet, you (and your kids) do not need to do a “dopamine detox!” If you’d like to take a break from screens and find that to be helpful, by all means, please do that! But detoxing from dopamine is…nonsensical. Want to know why? As this article nicely puts it: “you can’t fast [i.e., detox] from a occurring brain chemical.” Also, even if it were possible, it would not be good for you. Dopamine is involved reinforcing many positive and essential behaviors—socializing, for example, and eating—so turning that off would be actively harmful.

5. Public discourse would have you believe that dopamine is like Las Vegas. Pleasure! “Sin City”! Fun but toxic! A little danger! In truth, dopamine is a little more like Providence, Rhode Island. Definitely some fun and weird stuff! But also just, like, people doing their jobs and going to Trader Joe’s to grab groceries for dinner. And just another city in the Northeast—an important one! But just one among many. Dopamine is essential for a lot of basic stuff (motivation, sleep, learning)—not just pleasure—but it’s also one chemical among many, just trying to do its job.

6. Thank you to Maria Maza, a researcher at UNC Chapel Hill and expert in the neuroscience of social media, who answered my questions about this post. Though, please note that any mistakes are entirely mine.

7. Looking for other screen-free activities? I love this idea—a children’s book that has all the words but is missing the pictures, ready for your child to draw themself into the story! Cannot wait to see my child’s renderings of a sloth and llama. Support the Kickstarter here!

8. If you are concerned that your child is struggling with problematic or “addictive” screen use, you should reach out to your child’s pediatrician or a mental health professional.