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Over the past years, there have been a lot of studies on how much screen time should be allowed for children. 

But in a recent study, researchers looked into its long-term effects on children's brains.

Children's use of technology can range from social media to gaming to research for schoolwork. In a report from 2020, children in the United States aged 8 to 12 years were found to spend about 4 to 6 hours per day on technology, while teens spent an average of 9 hours. 

Though there may be benefits to technology use, excessive screen time can affect their brains, especially since they are still in the development stage. For the study, researchers used neuroimaging techniques to observe the changes in the brains of 30,000 children. The researchers found that there were both positive and negative effects.

Positive long-term effects

Video gameplay was found to enhance children's functional connectivity in certain brain areas related to the speed of their response to visual stimulation. This supports past studies about cognitive enhancements involving hand-eye coordination and reaction time, spatial visualization and task switching, among other activities. 

Negative long-term effects

On the negative side, too much screen time was found to reduce verbal intelligence quotient. This was also observed in another study from 2021.

Too much screen time was related to a 37 percent variance in brain structures, including changes in cortical thickness and sulcal depth. Scientists also observed reduced gray and white matter volumes in the brain. Such changes were linked to the potential alterations in verbal intelligence quotient, among others.