Study: Excessive Facebook Use Linked To Risky Decision-Making

Can’t stay away from your Facebook apps? A new study may push you to dial the social media obsession down a notch. Research links excessive Facebook use with risky decision-making, a trait also seen in gambling addicts and people struggling with substance abuse.

The study, conducted by a team of researchers at Michigan State University, claims to be the first to examine the relationship between addiction to the social network and risk-taking.

“Decision making is oftentimes compromised in individuals with substance use disorders. They sometimes fail to learn from their mistakes and continue down a path of negative outcomes,” says lead author Dar Meshi in a media release. “But no one previously looked at this behavior as it relates to excessive social media users, so we investigated this possible parallel between excessive social media users and substance abusers. While we didn’t test for the cause of poor decision-making, we tested for its correlation with problematic social media use.”

For the study, Meshi and his team recruited 71 young adults ages 18 to 35 take a survey measuring their level of addiction to Facebook. They answered questions about their pre-occupation with the app or site, how they feel when they’re unable to access it, any attempts to quit the network, and its impact on their job or studies.

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