How technology use is changing adolescents’ behaviors and their social, physical, and cognitive development

The rapid spread of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in recent decades has pushed the use of smartphones, tablets, and their applications to become pervasive tools used in everyday life, especially among adolescents (Khang et al., 2013; Odaci & Çıkrıkçı, 2014). The possibility of being constantly connected significantly increases the amount of time adolescents spend online, and Web and mobile applications are ubiquitous in many adolescents’ lives (Durak, 2018). Research has shown that adolescents use the Internet more frequently (compared to adults) than other generations and in a more multipurpose context (Cain & Gradisar, 2010; Livingstone et al., 2011; O’Keeffe et al., 2011; Tzavela et al., 2015, Casaló & Escario, 2018). The use of digital applications has also dramatically changed the way adolescents relate to their peers, access information, and engage in social relationships, and has also had a profound influence on their health, including their well-being (e.g., the impact of smartphone uses on the sleep-waking cycle), and on their cognitive development (e.g., level of attention in carrying out a task). Given the importance of considering technology use as having a profound role in adolescent development, one key question many scholars are now attempting to answer concerns how adolescents’ online presence shapes their offline lives; this question could be encapsulated as follows: “Is technology use changing adolescents’ behaviors, their social, physical, and cognitive development?”