A recent study from the United States suggests that children frequently engaged with social media may experience diminished cognitive abilities compared to their counterparts.

The research involved categorizing thousands of children based on how much they use social media. These groups then underwent various tests assessing memory, reading, and vocabulary to determine if social media habits affected their cognitive skills.

Notably, children with little to no social media activity averaged a score of 103.5 on an oral reading recognition test. In contrast, those with gradually increasing and high levels of usage scored lower, averaging 99.4 and 96.7, respectively.

The findings highlighted that while social media use tends to be minimal at age nine, it surges significantly as children reach 12 and transition into high school.

“This analysis found that both low and high increases in social media use throughout early adolescence were significantly associated with lower performance in specific aspects of cognitive function,” the authors of the study wrote.

“The finding that even low levels of early adolescent social media exposure were linked to poorer cognitive performance may suggest support for stricter age restrictions.”

The findings come as Australia prepares to implement its world-first social media ban on children under the age of 16.

Communications Minister Anika Wells fronted media today to launch an advertising campaign ahead of the ban being enforced from December 10.

Wells claimed it was important for kids impacted by the ban to watch the campaign to get a greater understanding as to why it is going ahead.

“They’ll see it on TV, they’ll see it online, they’ll see it ironically on social media, because until the 10th of December, it is legal for kids to be on social media,” Wells said.

“And if that’s where they are, that’s where we need to talk to them about what this means and why we’re doing it.”

The ban is still receiving backlash from some of the world’s biggest social media companies, with officials from Google warning a Senate committee yesterday of the potential negative impacts.

“Forcing kids to use YouTube without an account removes the very parental controls and safety filters built to protect them,” Rachel Lord, Google and YouTube’s public policy and government affairs manager, said

“It’s also the ability of parents to set up supervised accounts for their children.”