Research has shown teenagers are susceptible to addiction and poor decision-making because their frontal lobe has not fully matured yet. However, research into behaviors of people who use social media excessively could add a new factor to this poor decision-making. Researchers at Michigan State University had 71 participants measure their dependence to Facebook using a survey.

They then went on to do the Iowa Gambling Task. The Iowa Gambling Task is a commonly used test that psychologists use to analyze behaviors of subjects. In this task, the participant picks from different piles of cards with different values to earn the most money possible (fake money). Each card was either negative bringing their current amount of money down or positive bringing their amount of money up.

The researchers found that the users that were less dependent on Facebook did better on the task than those who used it more. The Facebook users usually chose the bad piles in the time given.

Source: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20190110/Research-shows-connection-between-social-media-use-and-impaired-risky-decision-making.aspx