Neurobiological risk factors for problematic social media use as a specific form of Internet addiction: A narrative review

Abstract

Problematic social media use (PSMU) is a behavioral addiction, a specific form of problematic Internet use associated with the uncontrolled use of social networks. It is typical mostly for modern adolescents and young adults, which are the first generations fully grown up in the era of total digitalization of society. The modern biopsychosocial model of the formation of behavioral addictions, postulating the impact of a large number of biological, psychological, and social factors on addictive behavior formation, may be quite applicable to PSMU. In this narrative review, we discussed neurobiological risk factors for Internet addiction with a focus on current evidence on the association between PSMU and structural/ functional characteristics of the brain and autonomic nervous system, neurochemical correlations, and genetic features. A review of the literature shows that the vast majority of the mentioned neurobiological studies were focused on computer games addiction and generalized Internet addiction (without taking into account the consumed content). Even though a certain number of neuroimaging studies have been conducted for PSMU, there is practically no research on neuropeptide and genetic associations for PSMU to date. This fact points to the extremely high relevance of such studies.

Keywords: Internet addiction, Problematic social media use, Addictive behavior physiopathology, Neurobiology, Genetics

Core Tip: The analysis of sources showed that the vast majority of neurobiological research was focused on the study of computer games addiction and generalized Internet addiction (without taking into account the content consumed). There is practically no research on neuropeptide and genetic associations for problematic social media use to date. This fact points to the extremely high relevance of such studies.