A recent editorial in the American Journal of Psychiatry emphasizes that problematic internet use is not a one-size-fits-all condition, particularly when it comes to its effects on the brain. Aviv Weinstein, PhD, of Ariel University in Israel, writes that while some internet-related behaviors—such as gaming—are strongly linked to cognitive impairment, others like compulsive shopping, pornography use, and excessive social media activity show mixed or limited evidence of such deficits.
The editorial responds to a study by Müller and colleagues, which examined participants grouped by the severity of their internet use: pathological, risky, and nonproblematic.
Participants completed a battery of cognitive tests measuring executive function, self-control, and decision-making. The results showed that participants with pathological internet use performed the worst across all tasks.
However, Weinstein argues that combining different types of internet behaviors into a single group may hide important differences in how each behavior affects the brain. He stresses that internet gaming disorder, for example, has been consistently shown in past studies to involve impaired decision-making, reduced impulse control, and changes in brain activity similar to those found in substance addiction.
In contrast, the evidence for cognitive impairment in other internet behaviors—such as compulsive sexual behavior (CSB), buying-shopping disorder, and social media use—is less clear. Some studies show that participants with CSB—a category that includes problematic pornography use—maintain self-control in many areas of life and may only act impulsively in response to sexual stimuli.
For buying-shopping disorder, research has yielded inconsistent findings on tests such as delay discounting, the Stroop test, and go/no-go tasks. Social media users, meanwhile, may show signs of impulsivity, but no strong link has been found to executive dysfunction.
Weinstein also points out that personality traits and emotional factors vary among these user groups. Internet gamers may be impulsive and thrill-seeking, pornography users may seek novelty due to boredom, shoppers may act to relieve stress or negative feelings, and social media users often show traits like neuroticism and fear of missing out. These differences suggest that the motivations and cognitive profiles behind each type of problematic internet use (PUI) are distinct.
The said piece cautions against assuming neurocognitive uniformity across all PUIs. Weinstein recommends analyzing the behaviors separately to better understand how each affects executive function and decision-making. “When you average responses for all types of Internet use, you may mask the differences between the various types of behaviors in the internet,” he notes.
He predicts that the strongest cognitive impairments will be found in internet gaming disorder, followed by moderate effects in CSB and shopping, and little to no effect in social media use.
The editorial calls for more targeted research into each subtype of PUI to avoid misclassification and to inform better diagnosis and treatment. While excessive use of the internet may be common, Weinstein argues, the underlying behaviors—and their impact on the brain—are far from the same.
