Sustainability in the Digital Age: Exploring the Long Term Consequences of Social Media Usage on Executive Functioning Skills of University Students and Professionals

Abstract

This article explores the the potential long term impact of social media usage on executive functioning skills of professionals as well as university students. The objective is to emphasize the importance of sustainable well-being in the digital era. The article examines if the usage of social media for a prolonged number of hours has an impact on significant cognitive skills such as decision making, goal persistence, metacognition, prioritising, sustaining attention among many others. Data was collected via a self- reported questionnaire containing 25 questions. 156 respondents constituting university students (above 18years) and professionals contributed to this survey. Impact of social media usage on seven executive functioning skills such as working memory, task initiation, goal persistence, stress tolerance, sustained attention, planning/prioritising and metacognition skills were examined in this study. A set of three questions each were posed to assess each executive functioning skill of the respondents. Social media usage was measured in terms of the number of hours spent on an average per day. The findings indicate that there exists statistically significant predictive relationship between social media usage and executive function skills in the sample population. Among the seven executive functioning skills examined, social media usage is found to have negative correlation with all of the skills. However, negative predictive significance is observed between social media usage and sustained attention and planning/ prioritising skills. The study highlights the need for a balanced approach to social media usage so as to preserve and prevent significant decline in executive functioning skills of the current and future workforce. This would help in proactively exploring interventions to prevent executive functioning impairment in a country’s workforce and thereby ensuring sustainable learning and retention.