Constantly checking social media bad for your brain

DO YOU have the habit of constantly checking Facebook or other social media sites while driving, in a work meeting or at other times? Beware, it could lead to a deficiency in the balance between two systems in the brain, researchers warn.

The findings showed that when there is an imbalance between two cognitivebehavioural systems in the human brain, there is a higher rate of problematic use of social networking sites.

Researchers from the DePaul University in the US applied the dual system perspective, which holds that humans have two mechanisms in their brains that influence their decision-making.

For the study, detailed in the Journal of Management Information Systems, the team obtained responses from 341 undergraduate students from a North American university who use Facebook.

The results showed that individuals who displayed higher levels of problematic use of Facebook had a strong cognitive-emotional preoccupation and a weak cognitive-behavioural control, creating an imbalance.

The greater the imbalance, the more likely individuals were to engage in problematic social media use behaviours, the researchers said.

“A slight increase in problematic social media use translates into significant grade loss, and this declined performance is persistent,” said Ofir Turel, of California State University. – IANS