Reading, screen exposure, and the developing brain in childhood and adolescence: A topical review
Abstract
Childhood is increasingly unfolding in media environments unlike those that shaped earlier generations. As reading engagement declines and screen exposure expands, an important developmental question emerges: do these experiences place different demands on the developing brain? This topical review examines selected neuroimaging findings on reading and screen exposure in childhood and adolescence, with particular attention to white matter organization and functional connectivity. The literature on reading is comparatively more consistent, linking literacy development to neural systems involved in language, attention, and cognitive control. By contrast, findings on screen exposure are more heterogeneous, partly because screen use encompasses activities that differ in pace, interactivity, and cognitive demand, and partly because much of the available evidence concerns problematic or excessive use rather than ordinary digital experience. Overall, the review suggests that reading and screen exposure should not be treated as equivalent developmental experiences.
Related
- Reasons for direct restoration failure from childhood to adolescence: A birth cohort study
- Shared reading and independent book engagement in early childhood: associations with the home literacy environment in a Turkish pediatric outpatient population
- Can callous-unemotional (CU) traits be acquired? Tests in a longitudinal sample spanning late childhood through adolescence in the ABCD study
- Socioeconomic position and cardiometabolic risk factors in children and adolescents with obesity: findings from the Bern Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence Biorepository (BOCAB)
- Can One Predict Persistence beyond Adolescence in Childhood Absence Epilepsy?
BibTeX
@article{pınar2026reading,
title = {{Reading, screen exposure, and the developing brain in childhood and adolescence: A topical review}},
author = {Yunus Pınar},
journal = {Digital Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1177/20552076261502332},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076261502332},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Reading, screen exposure, and the developing brain in childhood and adolescence: A topical review
AU - Yunus Pınar
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
JO - Digital Health
DO - 10.1177/20552076261502332
UR - https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076261502332
AB - Childhood is increasingly unfolding in media environments unlike those that shaped earlier generations. As reading engagement declines and screen exposure expands, an important developmental question emerges: do these experiences place different demands on the developing brain? This topical review examines selected neuroimaging findings on reading and screen exposure in childhood and adolescence, with particular attention to white matter organization and functional connectivity. The literature on reading is comparatively more consistent, linking literacy development to neural systems involved in language, attention, and cognitive control. By contrast, findings on screen exposure are more heterogeneous, partly because screen use encompasses activities that differ in pace, interactivity, and cognitive demand, and partly because much of the available evidence concerns problematic or excessive use rather than ordinary digital experience. Overall, the review suggests that reading and screen exposure should not be treated as equivalent developmental experiences.
SN - 2055-2076
ER -