Associations between executive functions and problematic social networking sites use

ABSTRACT

Background

Research on problematic internet use has greatly increased over the last decade. Although there were many studies related to problematic social networking sites (SNS) use, there is limited empirical research yet focused on exploring the relationship between problematic SNS use and Executive Functions (EF).

Aim

This study set out to determine whether problematic SNS use is associated with cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control aspects of EF.

Method

A total of 284 individuals participated in the study. A sociodemographic data form, Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) were administered.

Results

Group comparisons revealed no difference in WCST performance between problematic and non-problematic SNS use groups. Categories achieved (WCST-CA) and perseverative errors (WCST-PE) subtests were correlated with “relapse” subtest and “total score” of BSMAS in problematic SNS use group. Regression analysis revealed that WCST-CA and WCST-PE were associated with “relapse” subtest of BSMAS in problematic SNS use group.

Conclusion

Our findings yielded a possible association between EF and problematic SNS use. Enhancing cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control may be beneficial in mitigating problems related to relapse in excessive SNS use.

KEYWORDS:

• Problematic SNS use
• executive functions
• social media
• internet
• inhibitory control
• cognitive flexibility

Acknowledgments

All authors would like to thank Merve Sevinç, Saša Stajić, Mateo Danilović, Ahmed Plasto, Timur Aletović, and Hazim Karić for their collaboration in data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.