Social Media Use and Executive Control: An Auditory Go/No-Go Study

Abstract

Increased social media usage among young adults has raised concerns about its potential impact on cognitive functioning, particularly executive control processes. This study investigated the effects of social media usage on inhibitory control, set-shifting, and cognitive flexibility among Indian young adults (N = 30, Mage = 23.32, SD = 2.20) using a novel modified auditory Go/No-Go paradigm alongside established neuropsychological measures. The modified paradigm incorporated social-network-related auditory cues (Instagram and WhatsApp notification sounds) and neutral cues to assess context-specific inhibitory control. Participants were classified into high and low social media usage groups based on the Social Media Addiction Questionnaire (SMAQ). Although statistically significant group differences were largely absent, small-to-moderate effect sizes consistently favored the low social media usage group. The modified Go/No-Go paradigm demonstrated significant correlations with established executive function measures, providing preliminary evidence of convergent validity. Within-task analyses revealed that the mixed-condition block significantly increased task difficulty (F (30) = 16.79, p < .001, η²p = .375), demonstrating the paradigm’s sensitivity to context-specific inhibitory demands. These findings offer preliminary evidence supporting the utility of culturally adapted and ecologically relevant paradigms for investigating executive control in the context of social media use.