Student Social Media Usage and Its Relation to Free-recall Memory Tasks

Some studies reported that higher usage of social media is associated with lower performance in memory or other cognitive ability tests or lower academic achievement. The purpose of this research was to provide descriptive data regarding student social media usage and examine the relationship between the amount of time and frequency a certain platform was checked with the performance of memory tasks. The participants were high-school and university students aged between 16 and 20. They took part in a free-recall working memory task (WMT), after which they completed a Social Media Questionnaire (SMQ). Using regression analysis, it was found that Facebook/Instagram usage could not predict the task result and neither could the frequency of checking. Models tested separately for high-school and university students and found that frequent Instagram checking was a positive predictor of the free-recall task for university students. Additionally, Facebook usage related to Instagram usage and the frequency of Facebook checking related to Instagram checking. The results did not provide evidence to support the idea that social media is damaging to cognitive abilities, quite the opposite in the instance of Instagram checking by university students. A consensus on this topic is yet to be made and there is more research to be done.