Impact of Social Media Addiction on Physical Fitness and Academic Performance in Teenagers: A Systematic review

Abstract

Aim: To analyze the impact of digital addiction—including problematic smartphone use (PSU), problematic social media use (PSMU), and internet gaming disorder (IGD)—on adolescent physical fitness, sleep, neurodevelopment, and academic performance.

Method: A controlled, two-stage scientific synthesis comprising:

1. A systematic data extraction and categorization matrix parsing empirical focus areas, study designs, sample sizes, interventions, outcome measures, findings, and limitations across international literature.

2. A synthesized thematic review integrating findings across neurobiology, ergonomics, epidemiology, behavioural displacement, and cognitive performance.

Selection Criteria: Empirical studies investigating digital dependency constructs (PSU, PSMU, IGD) in youth; inclusion of outcome measures related to physical activity (MVPA), somatosensory pain, sleep, inter-brain neural synchrony, or academic achievement; and utilization of validated psychometric or physiological tools.

Results: Digital interruptions ("technoference") cause significant drops in left-to-right inter-brain neural synchrony during parent-child interactions. Biomechanical strains manifest as high rates of neck pain (up to 61.3%) and De Quervain's Tenosynovitis (DQT, up to 67.5% in high-exposure cohorts). PSMU drives nomophobia, triggering physical activity avoidance and sleep loss. Tri-adherence to screen time (< 2 hours/day), physical activity (\ge 60 mins MVPA/day), and sleep guidelines yields the strongest positive academic outcomes (B = 0.24, p < 0.001).