Invited Keynote:
Prof Eva Telzer, PhD, UNC Chapel Hill (USA)

In the span of a generation, social media has transformed the developmental ecology of adolescence. Platforms engineered around quantifiable social metrics, algorithmic personalization, and intermittent social reward now shape how young people experience peer evaluation, risk-taking, identity formation, and belonging. Yet the adolescent brain is uniquely sensitive to social reward, status feedback, and peer influence—features that are amplified in digital environments. This talk synthesizes emerging evidence from developmental neuroscience and digital media research to examine how social media intersects with adolescent brain development. Drawing on neuroimaging, experimental, and longitudinal findings, I will discuss how social media engagement influences cognitive control, reward processing, emotion regulation, and vulnerability to anxiety, depression, and addictive patterns of use. This talk proposes a brain health framework that distinguishes normative engagement from maladaptive patterns and identifies which adolescents may be most vulnerable. By integrating neuroscience with real-world digital design features, this talk aims to equip clinicians and researchers with a developmentally grounded understanding of social media’s impact on adolescent brain health.

 

Learning objectives:

Delegates will be able to:

1. Describe key features of adolescent neurodevelopment (reward sensitivity, social cognition, cognitive control) that increase sensitivity to social media environments.

2. Explain how specific platform features (e.g., algorithmic feeds, quantifiable metrics, social reward loops) may interact with neural systems involved in social processing, emotion regulation, and reinforcement learning.

3. Identify clinical and policy implications for promoting adolescent brain health in a digitally saturated environment.

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Level: Basic through experienced

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Presenter: Eva Telzer, PhD, UNC Chapel Hill (USA)

Eva Telzer is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at UNC Chapel Hill. She is an Associate Editor at Child Development and Social Cognitive Affective Neuroscience, and the co-Director of the Winston Center on Technology and Brain Development. Her research examines how social and cultural processes shape adolescent brain development, with a focus on prosocial and risk-taking behaviors, family and peer relationships, and the role of social media in youth’s lives. She has authored over 200 publications, and her research has been continuously funded for over two decades by numerous agencies and foundations including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Templeton Foundation, and the Jacobs Foundation. She has received many awards for her work including an Association for Psychological Science Rising Star Award, an early career award from the Society of Research on Adolescence, a Young Investigator Award from the Flux Congress Society for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, and the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology. She is regularly featured as an expert in psychological science in consultation to government agencies and non-profit associations as well as media appearances in The New York Times, NPR, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC.

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Keywords: social media, adolescence, brain development