Almost five billion individuals worldwide use social networking sites (SNSs) such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and X (formerly known as Twitter). The social rewards obtained on these sites induce users to spend substantial durations of time on them. However, current research demonstrates mixed findings on whether greater time on SNSs is related to riskier decision-making and impulsive tendencies. To address these findings, we conducted an online study (n = 225) to assess how time across four SNSs relates to impulsive decision-making in the delay discounting task. We included each trial as an individual choice in a regression model predicting preference for the immediate reward, for a total of 20,265 choices. Greater average time across all SNSs was related with a higher likelihood of choosing the immediate, but smaller, reward. In other words, people who spent more time on SNSs also made more impulsive decisions. When including individual platforms, greater time on Instagram and X, but not Facebook or Snapchat, was related with a higher likelihood of choosing the immediate reward. These findings help clarify prior literature on the relationship between platform specific SNS use and impulsive decision-making. We discuss limitations, directions for future research, and broader implications for the field.

The derivation of conformance tests for communication protocols is discussed. Protocol specifications are considered in the formal description technique LOTOS, which has been developed by the International Standards Organization. Test processes which preserve the structure of the protocol specifications are constructed. Laws are presented for handling basic LOTOS operators. The test processes obtained by applying these laws are related to the theoretical notion of canonical testers. The conversion of the test processes into finite test suites is discussed. Their relationship to current practice in test suite design is discussed.>