Smartphone Use and Neurocognitive Functioning Among Adolescents: A Systematic Review of Cognitive and Behavioral Outcomes
Keywords:
smartphone exposure; adolescents; sleep duration; attention; verbal memory; working memory; inhibitory control; executive functions; media multitasking; systematic review.Abstract
Background: Smartphone exposure has become nearly universal during adolescence, raising concerns about its effects on sleep, attention, memory, and executive functioning during a critical neurodevelopmental period.
Objective: To systematically review published evidence on the association between smartphone exposure and adolescent neurocognitive health, with emphasis on sleep, attention, memory, and executive function.
Methods: Structured searches of databases and registers identified 1,276 records (1,268 from databases and 8 from registers). After removal of 236 duplicates, 14 records marked ineligible by automation tools, and 6 records removed for other reasons, 1,020 records were screened. Of these, 892 were excluded. A total of 128 reports were sought for retrieval, 7 were not retrieved, and 121 full-text reports were assessed. After exclusion of 106 reports for wrong population (38), inadequate outcome data (26), or non-eligible study design (42), 15 studies were included in the review. Findings were synthesized narratively across sleep, attention, memory, and executive-function domains.
Results: Fifteen primary studies were included. The most consistent evidence linked nighttime and high-frequency smartphone use with shorter sleep duration, delayed sleep onset, poorer sleep quality, and sleep disturbance. Attention-related outcomes suggested associations between frequent digital engagement and inattentive or distractible behavior, although effect measures varied across studies. Memory findings were mixed, with some longitudinal evidence linking heavier social-media exposure to lower verbal-memory performance, while small experimental work showed no clear short-term effect on overnight memory consolidation. Executive-function findings were heterogeneous and depended on whether outcomes were assessed by questionnaire, cognitive task performance, or neuroimaging correlates.
Conclusion: Current evidence most strongly supports an adverse association between nighttime smartphone exposure and adolescent sleep. Evidence for attention, memory, and executive functioning is more heterogeneous and largely observational. More longitudinal, objectively measured, and intervention-based studies are needed to clarify causality.
