Any time spent on social media could cause cognitive decline in children, alarming new research shows.

Researchers from the University of California tracked social media usage of 6500 children aged nine to 13 over a four year period, finding both small and large increases in social media resulted in lower scores across a range of reading, memory and vocabulary tests.

The study split participants into three groups — very low, low and high users and found all groups who increased their usage showed decline in cognitive performance.

It was noted that social media applications are designed to keep the user engaged which not only distracts children from time spent learning or completing school work but can also disrupt sleep.

“This analysis found that both low and high increases in social m

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