Screens, brains, and the future of thinking

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ABOUT

RESEARCH

Selected publications

• Einstein, D. A., Marsh, S., Moshel, M. L., Sinani, T., & Burrell, T. (2026). Unfiltered Access, Unseen Harms: A Developmental and Public Health Critique of Digital Rights Discourse. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 23(3), 364.

• Moshel, M. L., Warburton, W., Thomasius, R., & Paschke, K. (2025). Sleep quality as a mediator of internet gaming disorder and executive dysfunction in adolescents: Cross-Sectional questionnaire study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 27(1), e68571.

• Moshel, M. L. (2025). Cognitive Deficits in the Digital Age: Assessing the Neuropsychological Impacts and Interventions for Disordered Screen Use (Doctoral dissertation, Macquarie University).

• Moshel, M. L., Warburton, W. A., Batchelor, J., Bennett, J. M., & Ko, K. Y. (2024). Neuropsychological deficits in disordered screen use behaviours: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuropsychology Review, 34(3), 791-822.

• Moshel, M. L., Robinson, A. K., Carlson, T. A., & Grootswagers, T. (2022). Are you for real? Decoding realistic AI-generated faces from neural activity. Vision Research, 199, 108079.

For complete list, see:

MEDIA & SPEAKING

Recent appearances

• Australian Financial Review: Four words from her 4-year-old rewired Young Rich Lister’s phone use

• Australian Financial Review: Friction-maxxing: The new frontier in the fight against doomscrolling

• Dazed: Wait, whose life is frictionless?

• ABC News: Your brain explained: Why it’s getting harder to pay attention

• triple J Hack: Why young people say they are not the only ones hooked on screens

• Futurism: “Brain Rot” Is Poisoning Our Minds

• Sciences et Avenir: Trop exposé aux écrans, le cerveau devient fainéant

• The Advertiser: Online gaming addiction: How to help a child addicted to playing Minecraft, Fortnite or Roblox

• Science Friction ABC Radio National episode on Brain Rot (4/6/25).

• Forbes: Digital Detox For Leaders: Combating The Cognitive Toll Of Screens

• ABC News: Fact Check Team: 'Brain rot' named Oxford Dictionary's word of the year

• The Advertiser: Online gaming addiction: How to help a child addicted to playing Minecraft, Fortnite or Roblox

• Neoscope: "Brain Rot" Is Poisoning Our Minds

• El Pais: The effects of ‘brain rot’: How junk content is damaging our minds

• ABC: Ditching your smartphone won't stop you being distracted, study finds

• Science News Explore: Artificial intelligence is making it hard to tell truth from fiction

• 2ser Radio talking about Cognitive Abilities and Screen Use

• The Conversation: Does screen use really impact our thinking skills? Our analysis suggests it could

• The Conversation: AI-generated faces look just like real ones – but evidence shows your brain can tell the difference

• Adelaide Now: ‘If our child suicides that would actually be a relief’: Weary parents admit horror of screen addiction

• Daily Telegraph: Artificial Intelligence experts, NSW Police warn of rise in ‘deepfake’ porn

• Inverse: AI-generated Photos Take Advantage of These Optical Illusions — Here’s How to Stump Them

• Fox News: Humans stumped on difference between real or AI-generated images: study

• Herald Sun: Nomophobia — the fear of being without your mobile phone — affecting everyone with devices

• The Wire (radio) to speak on Phone Distraction

• Cosmos: Which of these pictures is a deepfake? Your brain knows the answer before you do

• The Independent: Human brain might subconsciously be able to detect deepfakes, study suggests

CONTACT

Media, speaking & research enquiries

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For clinical referrals and patient enquiries, please visit thecyberpsychologist.com.au.