KUALA LUMPUR – Adolescents may struggle to resist social media not merely because of habit or discipline, but due to the biological wiring of their brains, an expert said.
Clinical psychologist and family therapist KC Chiang, explained that the adolescent brain is still developing, particularly in regions responsible for judgement, impulse control, and decision-making.
“From science, I don’t think there is an age that is digitally ready. Because our brain develops gradually,” she said.
She highlighted that while policies such as Malaysia’s Online Safety Act 2025 (ONSA) use 16 as a benchmark, this does not suddenly equip teenagers to handle the complexities of digital environments.
Adolescence, which can extend into the mid-20s, is characterised by heightened sensitivity to rewards, driven by increased dopamine activity in the brain.
“So dopamine is something in your brain that tells you, ‘I want this’. And the release of dopamine in the adolescence years is a lot more active than adults,” Chiang said.
This amplified reward system can lead to impulsive behaviour, with teenagers often acting on immediate desires without fully considering the consequences.
“So this is biological. So basically, I want this in an adolescence is much louder than I want this in a fully developed brain, an adult’s brain,” she said on Scoop Insight podcast, hosted by Scoop’s Head of Podcast, Shazmin Shamsuddin.
Adolescents also perceive risk differently. Even when they recognise potential consequences, they are more likely to focus on positive outcomes, a phenomenon described as “hyper-rationality”.
“A lot of times, teenagers are aware of the consequence, but tend to place more weight on the positive outcome,” Chiang said.
This combination of strong reward-seeking behaviour and immature self-regulation makes social media particularly enticing, especially platforms with endless feeds and instant gratification.
Chiang illustrated the imbalance with an analogy: “the engine of a Ferrari and the brake of a bicycle.”
While adults may overuse social media, they generally have greater capacity to regulate their behaviour due to a more fully developed prefrontal cortex. Adolescents, by contrast, have a developing “brake system,” making it harder to disengage from content designed to keep them scrolling.
She also discussed “reward deficit disorder,” a tendency to seek instant and continuous gratification.
“So let’s go back to the brain, at that adolescence years, I’m going to use the term by Dr. Segal. He says that there’s a remodelling of the brain,” Chiang said.
This remodelling involves “pruning and myelination,” processes in which the brain strengthens frequently used neural connections while discarding unused ones.
“And whatever that you do more, there will be more neural connection. Whatever you don’t do, it will kind of prune off. That’s why it’s called pruning,” she explained.
Repeated exposure to instant gratification—such as endless scrolling and short-form content—can shape brain development, particularly areas tied to attention and emotional regulation.
“And just imagine this constant gratification, short attention span, it’s kind of built your brain function, how you deal with emotion and the attention itself,” Chiang said.
She warned that these patterns could pose long-term risks to brain development, alongside more immediate dangers, including harmful online interactions.
Malaysia has taken steps to improve online safety with ONSA, which aims to protect children under 16. However, experts say safeguarding young users requires not just rules, but a deeper understanding of how adolescent brains respond to digital environments. – April 19, 2026