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Washington: The impulsive act of checking Facebook while driving, in a work meeting, or at other times that could have negative consequences is linked to a deficiency in the balance between two systems in the brain, scientists say.

The greater the imbalance between the two systems, the more likely individuals were to engage in problematic social media use behaviours, researchers said. Researchers, including those from DePaul University in the US, obtained responses from about 341 undergraduate college students who use Facebook.

They collected and analysed problematic Facebook use data during one semester and then followed up with each student the next year to track their academic performance — in this case using grade point average — for both semesters and cumulatively.