Finding the Balance: The Relationship between Social Media Use and Executive Functions in Adolescents

Adolescence is a developmental phase characterized by a need for growing independence. To achieve independence, adolescents must engage in goal-oriented behaviour. This behaviour ranges from simple everyday tasks such as getting ready for school or traveling between locations, to achieving larger goals such as academic and professional success (Diamond, 2013). Essential executive functions responsible for goal-oriented behaviour include attention, inhibition, working memory, and planning (Diamond, 2013; Huizinga et al., 2023). These functions are crucial for reaching long-term goals and navigating everyday activities. Executive functions are not innate, they develop over time (Best & Miller, 2010). Adolescence is a critical period for this development, as the prefrontal cortex, pivotal for executive functions, undergoes a significant maturation process (Giedd, 2022; Taylor et al., 2013). This sensitive period makes the adolescent brain extra susceptible to both positive and negative external factors. One external factor that has raised concerns over the past decade is adolescents’ prolific social media use. The design of social media platforms encourages high engagement, and rapid shifts in attention (Paasonen, 2016). Additionally, social media provides instant gratification which can impact long-term planning and decision-making skills (Katz et al., 1973; Lin et al., 2024). This fast pace and highly stimulating content on social media may overload adolescents’ brains (Lang, 2000; Lee et al., 2016). This leaves little executive function resources available to effectively engage in goal-oriented behaviour. Since adolescents' ability to inhibit impulses is still developing, they are particularly prone to choosing quick, short-term (social media) rewards over long-term benefits (Giedd, 2022; Katz et al., 1973). Consequently, public debate often links the increased use of social media use during adolescence to lower academic achievement and reduced attention spans (Haidt, 2025). While studies have explored the relationship between social media use and executive functions, three clear gaps in the literature are present. First, many of these studies focus on ADHD symptoms rather than executive functions. ADHD symptoms typically consist of behaviour such as inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity (Thorell et all, 2021). These behaviours are often present in individuals with deficits in executive functions (Antshel, 2014). Although research on ADHD symptoms provides valuable insights into behavioural manifestations, it falls short in explaining how social media use is related to the executive functions responsible for these behaviours. Second, studies examining the relationship between social media use and executive functions have predominately focused on problematic social media use (Aydin et al, 2022). Problematic social media use is characterized by obsessive or compulsive use similar to addiction disorders (Eijnden et al., 2016). Therefore, problematic social media use (PMSU) can be defined by nine addiction criteria: preoccupation, tolerance, withdrawal, persistence, escape, problems, deception, displacement, and conflict. Note that, though problematic social media use is often associated with a high intensity of use, a high intensity of use does not necessarily equal problematic social media use (Boer et al., 2020). Unlike problematic social media use, the intensity of social media use (ISMU), marked by the frequency and duration, does not seem to consistently lead to negative outcomes (Noor & Gupta, 2025; Stieger & Wunderl, 2022). A possible explanation for these inconsistent findings might be that the relationship between the amount of social media use and executive functioning is not linear, but quadratic. This aligns with the Goldilocks theory, which states that the relationship between digital media use and well-being among adolescents is quadratic (Przybylski & Weinstein, 2017). This theory is inspired by Goldilocks fairytale where things in moderation are ‘just right’, whereas others are ‘too little’ or ‘too much’. The Goldilocks theory suggests that technology use at moderate levels is not harmful and may even have benefits. It also suggests that underuse may deprive adolescents of helpful information and overuse may displace activities that could aid adolescent development. Studies applying this theory to the intensity of social media use and adolescent wellbeing suggest that moderate use shows a positive relationship, while low and excessive use show negative relationships (Brannigan et al., 2022; Przybylski & Weinstein, 2017). So far, this theory has not yet been extensively studied in the context of social media use and executive functions. The third gap relates to gender differences. Girls are more likely to use social media intensively than boys, using online communication with others almost constantly (Wong et al., 2022; Boniel-Nissim et al., 2024). Negative outcomes related to problematic social media use are often more prevalent for girls than boys (Lopes et al., 2022; Gordon & McCauley Ohannessian, 2024). Boys typically exhibit lower executive functions than girls during adolescence (Boelema et al., 2014; Boniel-Nissim et al., 2024; Schirmbeck et al., 2019). Though gender differences in the relationships between social media use and executive functions have not been studied often, other indicators of cognitive functions have indicated gender differences. For example, a longitudinal study showed that higher levels of social media use were related to lower levels of academic achievement, which was more prominent for girls than for boys (Gordon & McCauley Ohannessian, 2024). While gender differences are clearly visible in both executive functions and social media use, a review on longitudinal studies showed that many studies account for gender only as a confounding variable (Thorell et al, 2022). This study aims to investigate the complex relationship between social media use and executive functions in adolescents. We will focus on core executive functions that are crucial for goal-oriented behaviour and growing towards independence: attention, inhibition, working memory, and planning. We will consider relationships from both problematic use and the intensity of social media use to each of the executive functions, taking into account potential quadratic relationships for the intensity of use. Furthermore, we will study gender differences in these relationships.