Males (but not females) who use social networking sites excessively make more impulsive decisions than those who do not: Role of gender and delay discounting

The aim of the present study was to examine the role of gender and impulsive decision making on social networking site (SNS) use in college students. Participants completed a delay-discounting task with hypothetical monetary rewards, in which they made repeated choices between a larger amount of money obtained later and an equal or lower amount of money obtained immediately. Based on the reported hours spent for SNS use, the participants were first grouped into the high or low SNS use group. They were then grouped by gender. The results show that, in females, the high SNS users did not differ significantly from the low SNS users in terms of rates of delay discounting, whereas in males, the high SNS users discounted delayed monetary rewards at greater rates than the low SNS users. These findings support the conclusion that gender acts as a moderating variable in the relation between SNS use and impulsive decision making. The present study contributes to the literature by providing implications for developing effective intervention strategies for excessive/problematic SNS use.