While the research linking technology use and changes in the brain is still in its infancy, studies are emerging that indicate that digital engagement may positively (and negatively) influence human brains and behavior. For instance, studies utilizing brain imaging techniques have documented how intensive digital engagement can lead to changes in the brains of children and adolescents and affect brain functions, such as cognition, language, and visual perception (e.g., Firth et al.; Hutton et al.; Winnick & Zolna.

Several studies have examined the connection between playing video games and brain structure using structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI). In one such study involving 152 adolescent participants in Germany, Kühn et al. found a positive association between the reported amount of time spent playing video games (of any type) and cortical thickness in the prefrontal areas of the left hemisphere (i.e., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and frontal eye field)

Social-emotional development is characterized by learning how to understand, manage, and express emotions in the context of learning about and building relationships with others . Engaging with technology often involves a social context. Building on the social-emotional development literature, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has provided the most widely utilized definition of social and emotional learning (SEL): “SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions

Considering how technology now mediates interactions between the developing individual and others in their microsystem (i.e., family, peers, teachers), when designing tech-based interventions it is important to consider the role it will play in teens’ techno-subsystem. How might influential peers, parents, and mentors be recruited to support and amplify the aims of an intervention? Tech-based interventions that easily integrate with existing influential relationships in the youth’s microsystem will be most engaging and effective.

The more TV and video your child watches, the greater his or her risk is of becoming overweight. Having a TV or other electronics in a child's bedroom increases this risk as well. Children can also develop an appetite for junk food promoted in ads, as well as overeat while watching on electronics. Learn more about screen time and body weight.

The more time spent watching on a screen, the more likely children are to have trouble falling asleep or have an irregular sleep schedule. Sleep loss can lead to fatigue and increased snacking.

Elementary students who spend more than two hours a day watching TV, playing video games or using a computer or smartphone are more likely to have emotional, social and attention problems. Also, exposure to video games is linked with an increased possibility of attention problems in children.

Elementary students who have TVs or other screens in their bedrooms tend to perform worse on tests than do those who don't have these in their bedrooms.