Eva H. Telzer

Neighborhood disadvantage encompasses multiple co‐occurring adversities, including threat and deprivation, yet its underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. Applying a dimensional framework to neighborhood contexts may help clarify how distinct features of disadvantage influence brain development. Here, we used representational similarity analysis to investigate associations between adolescents’ neural representations of affective valence and neighborhood disadvantage, as measured by caregiver self‐report and the Area Deprivation Index (ADI). One hundred and twenty‐one adolescents aged 11 to 14 ( M _age = 12.81 years old, 52.07% female, 28.93% White non‐Hispanic) completed an emotional reactivity fMRI task. Caregiver‐reported neighborhood disadvantage was associated with greater representational similarity in right amygdala between negative and neutral images, while no such effect emerged for the ADI. Follow‐up analyses examined whether specific dimensions of disadvantage drove these effects. Although our measure did not map cleanly onto threat and deprivation dimensions, factor analyses revealed distinctions between social (e.g., crime, loitering) and physical (e.g., abandoned buildings, walkability) disadvantage‐related items; our preliminary findings suggest that the effects of reported overall neighborhood disadvantage may be driven by characteristics of the social environment. No associations between caregiver‐reported neighborhood disadvantage or ADI were observed for positive/neutral similarity. These findings provide preliminary evidence that neighborhood disadvantage may impact the amygdala's differentiation of negative and neutral stimuli during early adolescence, supporting the view that neighborhoods are a critical ecological context for development.

Introduction: Adolescent social media experiences are diverse and may vary based on developmental stage. The associations that these experiences have with subjective well‐being may also vary in that different associations may emerge when examining relations at the immediate within‐person level versus the general person‐level. Methods: The current study utilized an ecological momentary assessment design to examine how exposure to three types of social media content (uplifting, humorous, hateful) related to affect and state self‐esteem three times per day for 14 days. These associations were examined in a cohort of late adolescents ( N = 51; aged 18–20, M = 18.39; 63% women) and early adolescents ( N = 67; aged 11–14, M = 12.37; 52% girls). Cohorts were from the same racially and ethnically diverse community in the southeastern U.S., and data collection took place in 2023–2024. Results: Adolescents reported the greatest exposure to humorous content, followed by uplifting content and finally hateful content. Younger adolescents reported greater exposure to humorous content compared to late adolescents. Within‐person, there was a positive hourly association between exposure to uplifting content and state self‐esteem, and a negative hourly association between exposure to hateful content and low arousal positive affect. At the person‐level, exposure to uplifting social media content was associated with greater positive affect, and exposure to hateful content was associated with greater negative affect. Person‐level associations were typically stronger for older adolescents. Conclusions: Nuance is needed to holistically understand how social media content can differentially relate to subjective well‐being.

While social media affords youths the opportunity to enhance their online status via the accumulation of likes , followers, and other quantifiable metrics, not all youths engage in digital status‐seeking. Individual differences in adolescents' neural sensitivity to low popular peers and social motivations may help explain why some youth engage more strongly in digital status‐seeking than others. We examined how adolescents' social motivation such as their need for approval (NFA; approach & avoidance) moderate the links between neural sensitivity to low popular peers in the ventral striatum (VS) and amygdala and digital status‐seeking among 95 adolescents ( M _age = 13.40 years, SD = 0.58, females = 50.5%). Participants were part of a larger 5‐year longitudinal study of 873 adolescents from the Southeastern U.S. At wave 2, we assessed for NFA and had adolescents perform an fMRI task involving images of their real‐life classmates. Notably, we used peer‐nominated sociometric ratings from 873 students across 3 middle‐schools to select images of their most and least popular peers. We then assessed digital status‐seeking 2 years later. Results show that NFA moderated the links between neural sensitivity to low popular peers and digital status‐seeking, such that sensitivity to low popular peers in the VS predicted greater digital status‐seeking 2 years later, but only for adolescents with high avoidance NFA. Similarly, sensitivity to low popular peers in the amygdala significantly predicted greater digital status‐seeking 2 years later, but only for adolescents with high approach NFA, as well as adolescents with high avoidance NFA. These results suggest that neural sensitivity to low popular peers, or NFA in isolation, does not predict digital status‐seeking, but the heightened combination of both may underlie digital status‐seeking in adolescence.

Adolescence is a period of neurobiological development, characterized by heightened reward sensitivity, increased social orientation, and still-developing regulatory systems. In this paper, we examine how these core aspects of adolescent brain development can function both as liabilities within current digital ecosystems and as leverage points for designing healthier, developmentally aligned digital media. Drawing on the scientific literature, we review evidence that features of current digital media platforms systematically exploit these developmental sensitivities, such as intermittent and variable rewards (e.g., notifications), quantified social feedback (e.g., likes), algorithmic personalization, beauty filters, and interactive human-like AI chatbots. We close with a discussion of policy implications for designing safer, developmentally appropriate, and neurobiologically-informed digital spaces.

BACKGROUND Youth are increasingly engaging with generative AI (GenAI) chatbots; yet, little is known about the nature of their interactions. OBJECTIVE This study used naturalistic behavioral observations of keystrokes typed into GenAI mobile apps to characterize the topics youth discuss with chatbots, describing themes by age and app, word count by theme (a proxy for quantity of engagement), and co-occurring themes. METHODS Participants were 3363 US youth aged 1-17 years using the Aura parental monitoring app, a commercially available service that guardians install on children’s mobile devices for digital safety. Participants included only those who opted into the overlay Aura keyboard (to collect keystroke data) and who engaged in some degree of GenAI use. Participants’ keystrokes for distinct GenAI apps by day (ie, user-app-days) were coded using a large language model with human review. RESULTS Usage patterns were highly variable, with most users accessing only 1 to 2 GenAI apps (range 1-15) across a median of 4 days (IQR 1-11, range 1-247; 0.4%-90% of days during the study period), sending a median of 6 (IQR 2-27, range 2-2865) messages per app-day. Results identified 11 mutually inclusive themes, including functional tool use; social practice; role-play, including general, romantic, and sexual; emotional support; friend-like interactions; and violence. Most user-app-days involved using AI as a tool (26,343/42,355, 62%), but notable proportions included violence (6460/42,355, 15%), sexual role-play (6393/42,355, 15%), romantic role-play (3538/42,355, 8%), general role-play (3707/42,355, 9%), and friend-like interaction (2624/42,355, 6%). Theme prevalence varied by age: tool use was more common among older adolescents, whereas violence and sexual or romantic role-play were relatively more common among younger users. Themes also varied by app, with general-purpose apps most often used as tools and companionship or role-play apps showing higher usage of sexual, romantic, general role-play, and violent content; however, ChatGPT appeared across all themes due to high overall use. Word counts were highest for user-app-days involving violence, followed by sexual role-play, romantic role-play, and emotional support, suggesting greater engagement when using GenAI in these ways. Co-occurrence analyses showed that tool use often appeared alone, whereas violence, sexual role-play, and romantic role-play frequently co-occurred within a user-app-day, including instances suggestive of violent sexual role-play. CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest that youth engagement with GenAI varies substantially across users. Tool use is most common, requiring more nuanced investigation into the precise ways youth use GenAI to potentially support or thwart their development. GenAI engagement also may involve developmentally salient and potentially risky themes of sexuality, romance, and violence, especially among younger users. More research is needed that pairs GenAI engagement with psychological measures of well-being to examine the impacts of AI interactions and promote safety-focused design features.

Background: Youth are increasingly engaging with generative AI (GenAI) chatbots; yet, little is known about the nature of their interactions. Objective: This study used naturalistic behavioral observations of keystrokes typed into GenAI mobile apps to characterize the topics youth discuss with chatbots, describing themes by age and app, word count by theme (a proxy for quantity of engagement), and co-occurring themes. Methods: Participants were 3363 US youth aged 1-17 years using the Aura parental monitoring app, a commercially available service that guardians install on children’s mobile devices for digital safety. Participants included only those who opted into the overlay Aura keyboard (to collect keystroke data) and who engaged in some degree of GenAI use. Participants’ keystrokes for distinct GenAI apps by day (ie, user-app-days) were coded using a large language model with human review. Results: Usage patterns were highly variable, with most users accessing only 1 to 2 GenAI apps (range 1-15) across a median of 4 days (IQR 1-11, range 1-247; 0.4%-90% of days during the study period), sending a median of 6 (IQR 2-27, range 2-2865) messages per app-day. Results identified 11 mutually inclusive themes, including functional tool use; social practice; role-play, including general, romantic, and sexual; emotional support; friend-like interactions; and violence. Most user-app-days involved using AI as a tool (26,343/42,355, 62%), but notable proportions included violence (6460/42,355, 15%), sexual role-play (6393/42,355, 15%), romantic role-play (3538/42,355, 8%), general role-play (3707/42,355, 9%), and friend-like interaction (2624/42,355, 6%). Theme prevalence varied by age: tool use was more common among older adolescents, whereas violence and sexual or romantic role-play were relatively more common among younger users. Themes also varied by app, with general-purpose apps most often used as tools and companionship or role-play apps showing higher usage of sexual, romantic, general role-play, and violent content; however, ChatGPT appeared across all themes due to high overall use. Word counts were highest for user-app-days involving violence, followed by sexual role-play, romantic role-play, and emotional support, suggesting greater engagement when using GenAI in these ways. Co-occurrence analyses showed that tool use often appeared alone, whereas violence, sexual role-play, and romantic role-play frequently co-occurred within a user-app-day, including instances suggestive of violent sexual role-play. Conclusions: Findings suggest that youth engagement with GenAI varies substantially across users. Tool use is most common, requiring more nuanced investigation into the precise ways youth use GenAI to potentially support or thwart their development. GenAI engagement also may involve developmentally salient and potentially risky themes of sexuality, romance, and violence, especially among younger users. More research is needed that pairs GenAI engagement with psychological measures of well-being to examine the impacts of AI interactions and promote safety-focused design features.

Importance: Smartphones are a pervasive feature of adolescents’ daily lives, raising concern about how smartphones are used in contexts such as school that require sustained attention and self-regulation. Objectives: To describe youths’ smartphone use during each hour of the school day and examine whether smartphone use during school is associated with poorer cognitive control, a key developmental process underlying academic success. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study of youths aged 11 to 18 years from the Southeastern US objectively assessed smartphone use every hour for 14 consecutive days between April 8, 2021, and February 2, 2022 (cohort 1), and February 1, 2023, and December 11, 2024 (cohort 2), providing thousands of data points to capture actual engagement. Main Outcomes and Measures: The iPhone iOS (Apple) screen time report captured smartphone use at every hour. Cognitive control was measured in the older cohort using a go/no-go task, with the signal detection metric d ʹ quantifying inhibitory control. Results: A total of 79 participants (mean [SD] age, 15.10 [2.04] years; 41 [51.9%] female) participated in the study. Youths were using their smartphones during every hour of the school day, spending a total of 2.22 hours of the school day on their smartphones. Youths aged 15 to 18 years spent more time on their smartphones during school hours than those aged 11 to 14 years (mean [SD], 23.28 [18.34] vs 11.57 [16.83] min/h; F _1,76 = 28.82, P < .001, η ² = 0.28). Youths spent a mean (SD) of 40.14 (39.56) minutes on social media and 13.85 (25.22) minutes on entertainment apps during school hours. Youths checked their smartphones a mean (SD) of 64.46 (32.83) times during school hours. More frequent smartphone checking was associated with lower dʹ values ( F _1,28 = 4.8, P = .04, η ² = 0.15), indicating poorer cognitive control. Conclusions and Relevance: This cross-sectional study found that youths use smartphones approximately one-third of the school day; this use was associated with reduced cognitive control. These findings highlight the need for school-level policies and digital literacy programs that address not only overall screen time but also habitual smartphone-checking behaviors that fragment attention.

Many young people are inclined toward risk taking and also toward helping other people. Prosocial risk taking is a term that can describe different ways that youth provide significant instrumental and emotional support to family members, friends, and strangers, even when it involves a personal risk. In this article, we review research about different types of prosocial risk taking and highlight examples, emphasizing a developmental perspective by examining change across childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Research to date suggests that young people are more likely to engage in prosocial risk taking when they are more tolerant of uncertainty, have greater sensation-seeking, perspective-taking, and empathy, and when they are motivated by reputational concerns. Individual differences in prosocial risk-taking behavior depend on youth's access to opportunities to explore, practice, and experience positive social feedback. Providing opportunities for youth to direct their risk-taking tendencies toward prosocial outlets may help minimize risks to their psychosocial health and promote individual and community well-being.

Social gaming—online gameplay involving digital interactions with others—is a common form of social media use among adolescents. Research on this topic has neglected the social aspect of gaming and the potential role of social gaming in adolescent development. In this article, we define social gaming, drawing on interdisciplinary theories to clarify how it is both similar to and distinct from the app-based social media platforms that have received more research attention. We outline how social gaming may be uniquely rewarding and influential for adolescents, given three key features of adolescent development: peer relationships, identity development, and neurobiological development. We address how individual differences—including those related to social identities, neurobiology, and pre-existing social skills—may shape social gaming experiences and related outcomes. We conclude with a call for more work on how social gaming influences adolescent development and an agenda for researchers.