Social media could be costing your teens some of their brain power, a new study led by researchers in the United States, has found.

Children between nine and 13 years of age who spent more time on social media performed worse on tests of reading, memory and language two years later. The researchers reported this finding in the ‘Journal of the American Medical Association’ (JAMA).

“This study found that even low levels of social media use were associated with poorer cognitive outcomes,” said lead researcher Dr Jason Nagata, an associate professor of paediatrics at the University of California-San Francisco.

“Our results suggest that the early adolescent brain may be particularly sensitive to social media exposure, underscoring the importance of age-appropriate introduction to these platforms and careful monitoring,” he said.

For the study, researchers analysed data from more than 6,500 kids participating in the nationwide Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, the largest long-term study of brain development in the U.S, reported the ‘Newsmaxhealth’.

About 58 per cent of the kids spent virtually no time on social media; 37 per cent were spending an additional hour a day on social media by 13; and six per cent as many as three additional hours by 13, results showed.