A new study published in the Journal of Management Information Systems finds that when there is an imbalance between two cognitive-behavioral systems in the human brain, there is a higher rate of problematic use of social networking sites (SNS). This image illustrates the findings of co-authors Hamed Qahri-Saremi, DePaul University, and Ofir Turel, California State University, Fullerton. (Image by Hamed Qahri-Saremi and Ofir Turel)CHICAGO — 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,
find researchers in a recent study published in the Journal of Management
Information Systems.
Hamed Qahri-Saremi, an assistant professor of information systems at
DePaul University’s College of Computing and Digital Media, co-authored the
study with Ofir Turel, a professor of information systems and decision sciences
at California State University, Fullerton, and scholar-in-residence at the
University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
The study, “Problematic Use of Social Networking Sites: Antecedents and
Consequence from a Dual System Theory Perspective,” is available online at http://bit.ly/2ll6xnz.
The pair applied the dual system perspective, an established theory in
cognitive psychology and neuroscience, which holds that 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 said.
Using a validated problematic use measurement questionnaire,
researchers obtained responses from 341 undergraduate college students from a
large North American university who use Facebook.
The researchers collected and analyzed problematic Facebook use data
during one semester and then followed up with each student the next year to
track their academic performance — in this case using grade point average — for
both semesters and cumulatively.
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. In fact, the greater the imbalance between the two systems, the
more likely individuals were to engage in problematic social media use
behaviors.
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.
- 65 percent reported using Facebook at work
instead of working.
"The clear
and strong effect of problematic social media use on an academic performance
was astounding,” said Turel. “A slight increase in problematic social media use
translates into significant grade loss, and this declined performance is
persistent — it remained one year after our initial study,” he added.
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.
The authors defined a problematic behavior as “a typically impulsive,
often short-lived behavior that is considered inappropriate, prohibited, or
even dangerous in a given environment and context, or for a given state and goal
of the individual.” These problematic behaviors can result in negative
consequences like, in the case of this study, an adverse effect in students’
academic performance.
“The most
exciting thing about this study for me is that our dual-system research model
could very well explain why such problematic behaviors are formed and how
they can be controlled,” said Qahri-Saremi.
“Unfortunately,
these problematic behaviors in using entertaining IT systems, such as social
media and video games, are very common nowadays with an increasing pattern. In
some cases, these behaviors have resulted in grave consequences for the users,
for instance the news that came out last year regarding the problematic uses of
the Pokemon GO game where players were involved in accidents or being mugged,
because they were carried away by the game. Therefore, there was a need for a
research model that can explain why these behaviors emerge and how they can be
mitigated, which is portrayed by our work quite well,” said Qahri-Saremi.
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.
While the dual system theory is an established and well-researched
theory in cognitive psychology, Qahri-Saremi and Turel are believed to be the
first researchers to use this theory to explain the etiology of problematic use
of social networking sites.
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. Future
research might also want to investigate if the same information is found in
different cultural settings and educational institutions, the authors wrote.
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, they added.
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Source:
Hamed Qahri-Saremi
hqahrisa@cdm.depaul.edu
312-362-5841
Media Contact:
Russell Dorn
rdorn@depaul.edu
312-362-7128