Existing studies suggest that stress affects social media use and has been shown to lead to excessive social media use. Excessive use of social media can lead to detrimental consequences like addiction, anxiety and depression.

Dr Ng Wee Qin, a recent graduate with a PhD in Psychology from Singapore Management University, sought to study how daily stress would relate to problematic social media use and screen time within an individual, and if that relation would differ between individuals given differences in executive functions. 

Making use of a diary approach, her research sheds light on the crucial role executive functions play in shielding against the overuse of social media due to stress. In this article, Dr Ng shares some takeaways from her research.

The diary approach

Q: What was the rationale for your research and your use of a diary approach? 

Dr Ng: Given that stress and social media use are theorised to have daily fluctuations within an individual, daily diary studies may yield more accurate data as they are likely to capture the fine-grained temporal patterns of social media use with daily experiences of stress.

Further, participants reported their daily experiences of stress and problematic social media use behaviours close to their natural environment and in real-time, which can reduce the impact of retrospective memory biases and allow for more accurate and reliable reports.

Q: What did participants need to do in your study?

Dr Ng: First, participants had to complete nine computerised tasks measuring the executive functions of inhibition, updating, and shifting. Next, they provided their demographic information and completed scales assessing their personality, self-esteem, as well as depressive and anxiety symptoms. Lastly, they completed daily surveys and provided daily screenshots of their mobile screen time for seven consecutive days. 

Stress and social media

Q: Could you explain the correlation between average stress levels on daily problematic social media use?

Dr Ng: There was a positive correlation - individuals who demonstrated higher levels of average stress had increased problematic social media use symptoms. This suggests that the cumulative effects of daily stress over time may have a larger impact on individuals’ problematic social media use symptoms, compared to daily fluctuations in stress levels.

Q: What is the role of stress on social media use? At what point does it become excessive and detrimental?

Dr Ng: Individuals may use social media as a way to cope with stress - as a form of distraction or to seek social support. According to researchers, excessive or problematic social media use is determined by characteristics including but not limited to 1. Preoccupation with social media use 2. Having unpleasant feelings without social media use, and 3. Conflict (i.e., conflicts in relationships, in work or education, caused by social media use. 

The role of executive functions in excessive social media use

Q: Could you explain the concept of executive functions (EF) and how they relate and interact with our use of social media?

Dr Ng: Executive functions (EF) refer to a set of cognitive processes crucial for independent, goal-directed behaviours, and comprises three distinct, but interrelated facets – inhibition, shifting, and updating. Inhibition refers to the ability to suppress irrelevant stimuli, shifting refers to the ability to flexibly switch between different task sets, and updating refers to the ability to replace irrelevant information with more relevant information. Together, EFs play a crucial role in the regulation of planned, goal-oriented, and effective behaviour and inhibition of impulsive behaviours, which may include problematic or excessive social media use. 

Q: Do the different EF processes (namely, inhibition, updating, and shifting) affect the relation between daily stress and problematic social media use?

Dr Ng: I found that only inhibition affected the relationship between daily stress and daily social media screen time. 

Q: What is inhibition and what is its role in the personal relationship between daily stress and daily social media screen time?

Dr Ng: Inhibition refers to the ability to suppress distracting stimuli.

Individuals with better inhibition ability had decreased screen time when their stress levels were high, indicating that they are better able to regulate their social media use when faced with increased amounts of stressors. 

In contrast, individuals with poorer inhibition ability spend more time on social media applications when stress levels increase.

To give an example of what this might look like in real life: Consider Persons A (high in inhibition) and B (low in inhibition) who have an upcoming final exam. Person A might reduce their use of social media during the study and revision period,  whereas Person B might seek to use social media to cope with the stress of studying for the test.

Q: How are inhibition levels related to a person’s productivity or focus?

Dr Ng: When faced with stress, individuals with better inhibition ability may be able to resist impulsive responses that are irrelevant to their goals. This includes irrelevant “push” notifications from their social media applications, and engaging in strategic and adaptive coping behaviours instead. This would reduce the likelihood of using social media as a habitual response to stress.

For instance, Person A (high in inhibition), who has an upcoming final exam, understands that social media use may be irrelevant to his or her goal of revising for the exam. Accordingly, he or she may be better able to resist clicking on “push” notifications from applications such as Instagram or Facebook, and focus on revising for the exam instead. Over time, as he or she exercises this inhibition ability, there is a reduced likelihood of turning to social media use when faced with stress.

Key findings and advice for leaders

Q: What are the ways people can leverage their executive functions to manage their social media use (especially when under stress)?

Dr Ng: Training to enhance inhibition ability may be an effective intervention for decreasing social media use for young adults who face high levels of daily stress. For instance, there is preliminary evidence supporting the effects of mindfulness meditation on inhibition ability. Individuals can also practise using other forms of coping when faced with stress, and resist the urge to use social media as a distraction. Examples of these forms of coping could be going for a jog, taking a walk in a park, doing some sort of journaling.

Q: How can organisational leaders and educational institutions support those under their care to manage social media use under stress? 

Dr Ng: Educational institutions and organisational leaders could organise workshops to help students and employees in a few ways. First, help them to recognise increased social media use in response to stress. Second, promote alternative, adaptive ways to cope with stress and third, offer access to resources and support for individuals dealing with stressors (such as counselling and mindfulness meditation workshops).