Predictors of Social Media Self-Control Failure: Immediate Gratifications, Habitual Checking, Ubiquity, and Notifications

Abstract

Social media users often experience the difficulty of controlling their social media use while having important tasks to do. Recent theorizing on self-control and media use proposes four possible factors (immediate gratifications, habitual checking, ubiquity, and notifications) that might cause social media self-control failure (SMSCF). We tested whether these factors indeed predict SMSCF among 590 daily social media users. Results showed that, when people checked social media habitually, or strongly experienced the online ubiquity of social media, or perceived strong disturbances from social media notifications, they were more likely to fail to control their social media use. However, social media-related immediate gratifications did not predict SMSCF. This study empirically identified social media-related factors that might induce social media users' self-control difficulty.