ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Media Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicPsychological Health in the Digital Age across Global CommunitiesView all 7 articles
What Role Do Self-Regulatory Mechanisms Play in the Risky Use of Digital Media by Adolescents?
Provisionally accepted
- Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Zlín, Czechia
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As the time spent on digital media usage (DMU) has increased in recent years, there has been growing concern about problematic usage. The overuse of digital media affects up to a quarter of adolescents, although excessive DMU is not always associated with problematic use, a defining feature of which may be a loss of self-control. This study aims to clarify how self-regulatory mechanisms, such as trait self-control, sense of control, and self-regulation of digital media use, are related to risky DMU (excessive internet use and impulsive DMU) as well as time spent on DMU. We draw on a representative sample of 2,697 adolescents aged 11 - 15 years (mean age = 12.9) attending grade 2 primary schools. Our results show that adolescents with higher levels of self-control as well as a greater sense of control exhibit lower levels of risk-taking (excessive internet use and impulsive digital media use and screen time). Furthermore, increased levels of self-control as well as a greater sense of control predict higher levels of self-regulation in digital media contexts. The findings of this study provide insights regarding the importance of strengthening self-control, especially for at-risk users, and offer a perspective on the role of self-regulatory mechanisms in managing digital behavior. These factors can significantly contribute to better self-regulation of adolescents' digital behavior.
Keywords: Self-regulation, Self-Control, Sense of control, digital media use, screen time, impulsivity, adolescents, Risky behavior
Received: 29 Jul 2025; Accepted: 02 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hrbackova, Hladik and Petr Safrankova. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Karla Hrbackova
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