Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

3-2026

Abstract

Mixed findings on the relationship between daily stress and social media use suggest the presence of moderators that buffer this link. Previous longitudinal studies, with assessment intervals from 1 month to 1 year, may not accurately capture daily fluctuations in stress and social media use. To address this gap, we conducted a fine-grained, temporally sensitive 7-day daily-diary longitudinal study investigating the dynamic within-person and between-person associations between daily stress, problematic social media use, and objective screen time. Using a theory-driven approach, we examined whether executive functions (EF)—a set of cognitive processes crucial for goal-directed behaviors—moderate the link between daily stress and problematic social media use. Two hundred fifty-three college students completed daily measures of stress and problematic social media use and provided daily social media screen time using built-in applications. Participants also completed nine cognitive tasks measuring the three EF components: inhibition, updating, and shifting. Multilevel modeling revealed that participants’ average stress predicted higher levels of problematic social media use. Importantly, inhibition moderated the relation between daily stress and daily social media screen time, suggesting that individuals with greater inhibition better regulated their social media screen time in response to stress. Daily stress was not significantly related to both daily social media screen time or daily problematic social media use, and EF did not moderate the relation between daily stress and daily problematic social media use. These findings underscore the crucial protective role of inhibition in buffering stress-related increases in social media use.

Keywords

Daily stress, Executive functions, Inhibition, Problematic social media use, Social media screentime

Discipline

Organizational Behavior and Theory | Social Media

Research Areas

Psychology

Areas of Excellence

Digital transformation

Publication

Computers in Human Behavior Reports

Volume

21

First Page

1

Last Page

14

ISSN

2451-9588

Identifier

10.1016/j.chbr.2025.100917

Publisher

Elsevier

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2025.100917

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