Research Library

Curated research on screens, social media, AI, and cognition. Each section organizes studies into three tiers: empirical anchors, reviews and policy context, and commentary.

Social Media & Children's Mental Health

Tier 1: Empirical Anchors9 studies▾

Sametoğlu et al. (2025) — Twin/Genetic Confounding Study

Ferguson (2024) — Do social media experiments prove a link with mental health

Impact100%Challenges

Fassi et al. (2024) — Social Media Use and Internalizing Symptoms in Clinical and Community

Impact99%

Vuorre & Przybylski (2023) — Global Well-Being and Mental Health in the Internet Age

Impact94%

Braghieri, Levy & Makarin (2022) — Social Media and Mental Health

Impact95%

Shannon et al. (2022) — Problematic Social Media Use in Adolescents and Young Adults

Impact100%

Beyens, Pouwels, van Driel, Keijsers & Valkenburg (2020) — The effect of social media on well-being differs from adolescent to adolescent

Impact100%

Orben & Przybylski (2019) — The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use

Impact97%Challenges

Twenge, Joiner, Rogers & Martin (2018) — Increases in Depressive Symptoms

Impact95%Supports

Tier 2: Review and Policy Context9 studies▾

Tølbøll et al. (2026) — Umbrella Review

Przybylski et al. (2025) — Lancet Child & Adolescent Health (Personal View)

Challenges

U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health (2023)

APA Health Advisory on Social Media Use in Adolescence (2023)

Hancock et al. (2022) — Psychological Well-Being and Social Media Use

Conditional

Haidt, Twenge & Rausch () — "Social Media and Mental Health: A Collaborative Review"

Supports

Haidt & Rausch () — "Mountains of Evidence" (After Babel)

Supports

National Academies of Sciences () — "Social Media and Adolescent Health" (March 2024)

Candice Odgers () — Nature Commentary (2024)

Impact100%Challenges

Tier 3: Commentary and Books2 studies▾

Jeffrey Hall () — "Ten Myths About the Effect of Social Media Use on Well-Being" (JMIR, 2024)

Impact100%

Pete Etchells () — Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time (Book, 2024)

Challenges

Screen Time & Cognitive Development

Tier 1: Empirical Anchors10 studies▾

Mallawaarachchi et al. (2024) — JAMA Pediatrics

Conditional

Takahashi et al. (2023) — Screen Time at Age 1 Year and Communication and Problem-Solving Developmental

Impact100%

Sugiyama et al. (2023) — Outdoor Play as a Mitigating Factor in the Association Between Screen Time for

Impact100%

Hutton et al. (2022) — Associations between digital media use and brain surface structural measures in

Impact99%Supports

Madigan et al. (2020) — Association Between Screen Time and Children’s Performance on a Developmental

Impact95%

Hutton et al. (2019) — Associations Between Screen-Based Media Use and Brain White Matter Integrity in

Impact95%Supports

Paulus et al. (2019) — NeuroImage

Impact100%

Delgado, Vargas, Ackerman & Salmeron (2018) — Don't throw away your printed books

Impact100%

Walsh et al. (2018) — Associations between 24 hour movement behaviours and global cognition in US

Impact98%

Executive Function Meta () — Analysis (2023) — Computers in Human Behavior

Tier 2: Review and Policy Context4 studies▾

Santos et al. (2022) — "Screen Time and Attention in Children" (Systematic Review)

Impact98%

Guellai, Somogyi, Esseily & Chopin (2022) — Effects of screen exposure on young children’s cognitive development: A review

Impact95%

Neophytou, Manwell & Eikelboom (2021) — Effects of Excessive Screen Time on Neurodevelopment

Impact100%

Vedechkina & Borgonovi (2021) — Frontiers in Psychology (Narrative Review)

Tier 3: Commentary and Books2 studies▾

Maryanne Wolf () — Reader, Come Home (2018)

Supports

Nicholas Carr () — The Shallows (2010)

Supports

AI Use & Cognitive Skills / Deskilling

Tier 1: Empirical Anchors10 studies▾

Hao et al. (2026) — Nature

Lee et al. (2025) — The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking

Impact100%

Kosmyna et al. (2025) — "Your Brain on ChatGPT" (MIT Media Lab) — PREPRINT

Gerlich (2025) — AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical

Impact100%Supports

Kestin et al. (2025) — AI tutoring outperforms in-class active learning

Impact95%

Noy & Zhang (2023) — Experimental evidence on the productivity effects of generative artificial

Impact95%

Sparrow, Liu & Wegner (2011) — Google Effects on Memory

Impact100%

ChatGPT Meta () — Analysis: 51 Studies — Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (Nature Portfolio), 2025

Impact95%

GenAI Learning Outcomes: 68 Experimental Studies () — Educational Research Review (ScienceDirect), 2025

Higher () — Order Thinking Meta-Analysis: 29 Experiments (PMC, 2025)

Impact98%

Tier 2: Review and Policy Context11 studies▾

Znidaric, Strumbelj & Machidon (2026) — A Review of the Negative Effects of Digital Technology on Cognition

Acemoglu, Kong & Ozdaglar (2026) — "AI, Human Cognition and Knowledge Collapse" (NBER)

Sternberg (2026) — Does AI increase cognitive abilities

Impact98%

Kim et al. (2026) — From algorithm aversion to AI dependence

Singh, Taneja, Guan & Ghosh (2025) — "Protecting Human Cognition in the Age of AI" (Stanford)

Jose et al. (2025) — "The Cognitive Paradox of AI in Education" (Frontiers / PMC)

Natali, Cabitza et al. (2025) — AI-induced Deskilling in Medicine

Impact100%

Microsoft Research: "Learning Outcomes with GenAI in the Classroom" (2025)

Ferdman (2025) — "AI Deskilling is a Structural Problem" (AI & Society)

Impact98%

Crowston & Bolici (2025) — "Deskilling and Upskilling with Generative AI" (Information Research)

Risko & Gilbert (2016) — Cognitive Offloading

Impact95%

Handwriting vs. Typing — Cognitive Effects

Tier 1: Empirical Anchors15 studies▾

Pinet & Longcamp (2025) — Commentary: Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain

Impact96%

Flanigan, Wheeler, Colliot, Lu & Kiewra (2024) — Typed Versus Handwritten Lecture Notes and College Student Achievement

Impact95%

Van der Weel & Van der Meer (2024) — Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity

Impact100%

Voyer, Ronis & Byers (2022) — Contemporary Educational Psychology

Impact100%

Wiley & Rapp (2021)

Allen, LeFebvre, LeFebvre & Bourhis (2020) — Is the Pencil Mightier than the Keyboard? A Meta-Analysis Comparing the Method

Impact95%

Askvik, Van der Weel & Van der Meer (2020) — The Importance of Cursive Handwriting Over Typewriting for Learning in the

Impact98%

Feng, Lindner, Ji & Joshi (2019) — The roles of handwriting and keyboarding in writing: a meta-analytic review

Impact98%

Morehead, Dunlosky & Rawson (2019) — How Much Mightier Is the Pen than the Keyboard for Note-Taking? A Replication

Impact95%Conditional

Santangelo & Graham (2016) — Meta-Analysis of Handwriting Instruction

Impact95%

Kiefer et al. (2015) — Handwriting or Typewriting? The Influence of Penor Keyboard-Based Writing

Impact99%

Mueller & Oppenheimer (2014) — The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard

Impact100%

James & Engelhardt (2012) — The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain development in

Impact98%Supports

Longcamp et al. (2005)

Vinci () — Booher et al. (2016) — Visual-Motor Functional Connectivity

Tier 2: Review and Policy Context2 studies▾

Marano et al. (2025) — Life (MDPI), Systematic Review

Impact99%

Umejima et al. (2021) — Paper Notebooks vs. Mobile Devices

Impact96%

Tier 3: Commentary and Journalism4 studies▾

Lenharo (2026) — Nature News Feature

Hechinger Report (2025) — "Writing notes instead of typing pits scholars against each other"

Ihara, Nakajima et al. (2021) — Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Mangen, Anda, Oxborough & Bronnick (2015)

Impact93%