Conceptualizing Self-control on Problematic Social Media Use

Abstract

With increasing concerns about problematic social media use, self-control is expected to become an effective approach for excessive users to decrease possible harm for their well-being. This article explores the current literature on the conceptualization of self-control on social media. For this, 25 papers from seven academic databases were analyzed in the chronological order in a systematic literature review. The sequence of applied frameworks demonstrates a gradual switch from theories of planned behavior to theories justifying non-planned behavior and self-control failures. This finding explains the emphasis of recent studies on the impulsive behavior of excessive social media users and the application of dual-system theories. However, research design of selected articles included mainly self-report tools to investigate impulsive self-control failures which may result in contradictory findings and deficient theoretical grounding for self-control interventions. All investigated papers claim a negative impact of social media self-control failures on personal well-being.