Problematic social media use linked to brain imbalance

🎀 Highlights

The impulsive act of checking Facebook while driving, in a work meeting, or at other times that could lead to negative consequences has been linked to a deficiency in the balance between two systems in the brain,

humans have two different mechanisms in their brain that influence their decision-​making, explained Qahri-​Saremi.

System 1 is automatic and reactive, quickly triggered, often subconsciously, in reaction to stimulus such as a sight of or notifications from social media. System 2 is a reflective, reasoning system that moves more slowly, regulates cognitions, including the ones generated by system 1, and controls behaviors, according to Qahari-​Saremi. The second system can help individuals control impulses and behaviors that are not in their best interest, he

Individuals who were found to display higher levels of problematic use of Facebook had a strong cognitive-​emotional preoccupation (system 1) and a weak cognitive-​behavioral control (system 2), creating an imbalance, found researchers.

Among their findings: • 76 percent of respondents reported using Facebook in class. • 40 percent reported using Facebook while driving. • 63 percent reported using Facebook while talking face-​to-​face with others.

The study suggested that individuals could begin to limit their problematic social media use by, for example, turning off social media notifications on their phone. They also suggested IT designers take into considerations adding features to systems that better enable the users to control their problematic behavior.

Next steps in the field include additional research into problematic use of social networking sites and the consequences by expanding the study into other contexts, such as video games, texting and other social media, the study

Next steps in the field include additional research into problematic use of social networking sites and the consequences by expanding the study into other contexts, such as video games, texting and other social media, the study says.

Brain imaging neuroscience studies could further supplement these results and point to the neural underpinnings of the above-​mentioned brain systems, in the context of problematic social media use

Qahri-​Saremi and Turel found that problematic use of Facebook negatively affected students’ academic performance, with the higher the problematic use, the lower the GPA. In fact, more than 7 percent of students’ differences in their GPAs was attributed to their degree of problematic use of social media.