How Does SNS Use Affect Task Performance? An Analysis of Objective, Self-report, and EEG Interpretation Measures

As SNS use becomes prevalent, its effect on performance has received much attention. The previous literature takes either positive or negative views of SNS, arguing that it either decreases performance by taking time and effort away from work or increases performance by providing social benefits for enhancing performance. Since both can be true, this study conducts an experiment to investigate how SNS use during a task simultaneously disturbs and enhances its performance. For this purpose, this research adopts distraction-conflict theory, distinguishes the types of task as simple and complex, and analyzes data including electroencephalography data. The results overall suggest that, when doing a simple task, SNS use operates positively on performance due to the positive effect of psychological arousal. However, when doing a complex task, SNS use operates neither positively nor negatively because the negative effect of psychological arousal and the positive effect of reduced stress offset each other.