The Relationships Between Social Media Use, Time Management, and Decision-Making Styles

FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY, cilt.16, ss.1-13, 2025 (SSCI)

The present study examined the relationship between social media use,

time management, and decision-making styles. The sample consisted of 612

participants, including 513 women (83.8%) and 99 men (16.2%), who were

university students and young adults. Data were collected using a personal

information form (age, gender, social media usage time, and academic

achievement), the Time Management Scale, and the Melbourne Decision-

Making Questionnaire. In addition to these measures, differences were analyzed

concerning age, gender, academic achievement, and duration of social media

use. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, one-way analysis of

variance (ANOVA), chi-square tests, and regression analyses were employed in

data analysis. The results indicated that female participants scored significantly

higher than males on overall time management, time planning, and time wasters

subscales. In contrast, male participants obtained significantly higher scores on

the time attitude subscale. Furthermore, the self-esteem and hypervigilance

subscales of the decision-making scale differed by gender; female participants

reported lower self-esteem and higher hypervigilance scores compared to their

male counterparts. Academic achievement was positively associated with time

management skills, such that higher academic performance predicted better

time management. Social media use was negatively and significantly associated

with overall time management and all its subscales. In contrast, it was positively

associated with buckpassing, procrastinatory, and hypervigilance decisionmaking

styles and negatively associated with the careful decision-making style.

A positive relationship was also identified between overall time management and

decision-making styles. Specifically, individuals with better time management

skills demonstrated higher self-esteem and a tendency toward careful decisionmaking,

whereas negative associations were observed with buckpassing,

procrastinatory, and hypervigilance styles. Finally, longer durations of social

media use significantly predicted lower self-esteem, careful decision-making,

and higher levels of buckpassing, procrastinatory, and hypervigilance decisionmaking

styles