Social Media Usage and Academic Performance Among Medical Students in Medina, Saudi Arabia

Introduction

Social media is a network of websites and applications that enables people to communicate with one another. The users can create, use, exchange, and discuss the content available on the world wide web.¹ The rapid expansion of the technological revolution and the internet, particularly social media, have grown exponentially over the past few decades, and a new reality has emerged in the daily lives of society and of students in particular.² For example, the most common purpose for internet use among medical students in Pakistan was to visit social media.³ The prevalence of social media addiction was 55.2% among medical students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).⁴ After the COVID-19 pandemic, the addiction to social media increased.⁵

Due to the availability of smartphones and the simplicity of accessing such websites through home computers, social networking site use is widespread among university students, and student use of social media decreases their time spent on academic tasks.⁶ Also, students often use their phones to send text messages and emails during classes. Outside the classroom, anecdotal evidence shows students’ lessening ability to manage their time effectively. More and more procrastinating in getting started on assignments, resulting in requests for extensions and late submissions, and students are not reading the assigned material very regularly, according to faculty complaints.⁷

Among university students, using social media excessively is one of the risk factors for mental health disorders including stress, anxiety, and depression.⁸ Compared to the general non-student population of the same age, medical students had a higher prevalence of anxiety and depression.⁹ Among students in Kolkata, social media usage for academic reasons was high, but compared to nursing and paramedical students, medical students used social media more frequently.¹⁰ Also, the use of social media by Qassim University students in KSA is high for academic purposes, and most students are aware of both the positive and negative impact this has had on their academic performance. The positive effects include using social media for communication with their classmates and research purposes, while negative effects include changing their lifestyle and distraction from college.¹¹ Another study conducted among female students at Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz University in KSA found that 1% of the students used social media for academic purposes, mostly for nonacademic reasons.⁶

Several researchers have investigated the variation in social media usage among both genders. A study done among medical students showed no significant difference between female and male uses of social media among medical students, implying that gender has no bearing on social media use.¹² However, according to another research among undergraduate students at Koforidua Technical University showed female students spent more time on social media than their male colleagues.¹³

It has been demonstrated in some previous studies that social media have a negative impact on academic performance. One study discovered a negative relationship between social media usage time among students and their academic performance.⁷ However, another study found no effect of social media addiction on academic performance among nursing students.¹⁴

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in social media addiction and use of social media for non-academic purposes. In order to stop the spread of COVID-19, educational institutions have been forced to close, thus colleges and universities have changed how they teach. Collaborative multimedia distance learning approaches have superseded traditional teaching methods. Overusing social media due to the COVID-19 pandemic could affect students’ ability to learn, and students’ psychological well-being may be negatively impacted by these developments.⁶

In light of the previous results, it is clear now that social media impacts students’ academic performance. Our study aims to investigate both addictive and beneficial aspects of social media usage in relation to academic performance. To achieve this, we will distribute an online questionnaire through social media to gather data from medical students at Taibah University and Alrayan College in KSA.

Materials and Methods

Study Design, Setting, and Sample Size

A cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire was conducted among the medical students at Taibah and Alrayan, Colleges of Medicine, Medina, KSA during the academic year 2021/2022, to determine the impact of social media usage on academic performance. Taibah University is a governmental university, while Alrayan College is a private college. The survey was created using an online tool, Google Forms. Data was collected from October 2021 to February 2022. A minimum sample size of 384 participants was determined for this study using an estimated prevalence of 50%, a precision level of 5%, and a confidence interval of 95%. We excluded students in the first year because it is considered a preparatory year, and 842 medical students from all five academic years participated in our research.

Study Measurements

A validated English questionnaire was used to collect the data in which permission was obtained from the corresponding author of the previous research conducted at the University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (Figure S1).¹⁵ Students were required to complete a 24-question survey that took about five minutes to finish it. The questionnaire contained two parts. The first part of the questionnaire contained information about participant demographics, time spent on social media, and the frequency of using special media in classes. The second part was composed of five subscales: students’ addictiveness to social network and academic performance, exposure of students to social media networks and their academic performance, use of social media and students’ academic performance, gender usage of social media, and age usage of social media. The questionnaire was answered anonymously as no student name or identification number was requested while filling out the questionnaire.

Figure 1 The percentage distribution of usage of social media during class (N=842).

Statistical Analysis

The Social Science Software Statistical Package, version 26.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) was used for data analysis. Categorical variables were represented as frequency and percentages. We used the chi-square test, and fisher’s exact test to determine if there was a significant association between scores on social media and academic performance of the student questionnaire and the demographic variables of the sample. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant, and the confidence interval was 95%.

Participants were divided as addicted or non-addicted according to the score of the four statements included in the first axis of the survey, each statement has a score from 1 to 4 points, with a total of 16 points, those who got a score higher than 8 were considered in the addicted group. Participants’ perception of social media exposure and its impact on their academic performance was calculated according to the score of the four statements included in the second axis of the survey, each statement has a score from 1 to 4 points, with a total of 16 points, those who got a score higher than 8 were considered to perceive the exposure to social media platforms to have a negative impact on their academic performance, and participants’ perception of social media use as helpful was calculated according to the score of the four statements included in the third axis of the survey, each statement has a score from 1 to 4 points, with a total of 16 points, those who got a score higher than 8 were considered to perceive social media usage as helping them to improve their performance.

So, this study focuses on the effect of social media addiction, usage, and exposure on students’ academic performance. Social media usage represents the perception of the usefulness of social media and its positive effects on academic performance. The impact of exposure to social media represents the perception of the negative influence of social media on academic performance.

Ethical Considerations

The study’s objectives were explained to the participants, and the participation of students was voluntary, ethical considerations were also considered to ensure the confidentiality and privacy of the collected data. The research project was ethically approved by the Institutional Review Board, General Directorate of Health Affairs in Madinah, KSA (Reference Number: IR134-2021).

Results

Demographic Characteristic

The sample consisted of 842 participants of medical students in Medina. Table 1 illustrates the sociodemographic characteristics of the sample, 42.9% were males, while 57.1% were females. It has been shown that 78% of the responders were aged between 21 to 25 years old. And 64.8% of them were studying at Taibah University. Also, 24.8% of total students were in the 5th academic year, and 56.5% had a GPA in the range of 4.5 to 5.

Table 1 Demographic Characteristics of Study Participants (N=842)

Usage of Social Media During Class

Figure 1 shows the percentage distribution of social media usage during class, students reported they use social media during class sometimes (34.4%), followed by rarely (31.9%), never (14.5%), often (13.1%), and always (6.1%).

Time Spent on Social Media

Figure 2 illustrates that 26.1% of the students use social networking sites for 3 to 4 hours, and approximately 19% of them used them for more than 6 hours, while 3.7% reported spending less than an hour on social media.

Figure 2 The percentage distribution of time spent on social media (N=842).

GPA and Time Spent on Social Media

Spearman’s rank correlation was computed to assess the relationship between GPA and time spent on social media, there was a negative correlation between the two variables, r = 0.134, p = < 0.001 (Figure 3).

Figure 3 The GPA and time spent on social media (N=842).

Responses of the Medical Students to Items of Social Media and Academic Performance of Students’ Questionnaire

Table 2 shows that 44.1% of respondents agree that addiction to online social networks is an issue that affects their academic life. Similarly, 56.3% of respondents agreed that online social networks distract from their studies, and 43.3% of students agreed that hours spent online can never be compared to the number of hours they spend studying. While 39.9% agreed there is no improvement in their grades since they became engaged in social networking sites.

Table 2 Responses of the Medical Students to Items of Social Media and Academic Performance of Students’ Questionnaire (N=842)

Regarding the axis of exposure of students to social media networks and their academic performance, 45.2% of students agree they have unlimited access to social media, which has affected their academic performance negatively. In contrast, 47.7% of respondents agreed that engaging in academic discussions on social media has improved their academic performance. Likewise, 53.1% of respondents agreed they used social media to disseminate knowledge to their classmates. While 40.1% agreed they solely rely on information obtained from social media to do their assignments without reference to other sources.

Also, 48.3% of students agreed that social media has helped improve their grades. While 40.4% of respondents disagreed engaging in academic forums reduces their rate of understanding. Likewise, 55.2% of students agreed they use materials obtained from blogging sites to complement what they have been taught in class. While 40% agreed they will not perform well academically even if they stop using social media.

Further, the results showed that 65.2% of the sample believe male and female students use social media networks differently, while 50.9% of them believe gender does not determine the level of social media network usage.

Besides, 86% of medical students thought age impacted social media use, and 70.4% assumed social media would become boring with old age. While 59.7% of the sample consider social media irrelevant to people of an older generation, and 47.4% agree the younger generation is the most active social media user.

Addiction to Online Social Networks

In Table 3, the Person chi-square test shows a statistically significant association between addiction to online social networks and the gender of students. As shown males were more addicted to social media than females (61.5% vs 46.8%, P < 0.001), respectively. Also, there was a statistically significant association between addiction to online social networks and students’ GPA (P = 0.001). Students with excellent GPAs (GPA ≥ 4.5) are less likely to be addicted to social media networks (54.8%).

Table 3 Association Between Addiction to Online Social Networks and Demographic Variables (N=842)

Exposure to Social Media and Academic Performance

In Table 4, Fisher’s exact test shows a statistically significant association between exposure to social media and academic performance and the age of students (P < 0.016). Our results show that the students perceive that access to social media had a higher effect on their academic performance in the age group from 21 to 25 years (74.5%) compared to other age groups. The Person chi-square test shows a statistically significant association between exposure to social media and academic performance and year of study (P = 0.016). As shown, students perceive that access to social media had a negative effect on students’ academic performance in the fifth year compared to the other years of study.

Table 4 Association Between Exposure to Social Media and Academic Performance and Demographic Variables (N=842)

Use of Social Media and Students’ Academic Performance

We assessed the students’ perception of social media usage to help them improve their academic performance. In Table 5, Fisher’s exact test shows a statistically significant association between the use of social media and students’ academic performance and GPA (P = 0.004). Students with a GPA ≥ 4.5 perceive that using social media is not helping improve their grades compared to other students.

Table 5 Association Between the Use of Social Media and Students’ Academic Performance and Demographic Variables (N=842)

Then, we assessed if addiction helped the students to improve their grades. The Person chi-square test shows a statistically significant association between social media addiction and social media usage to improve students’ academic performance (P = 0.001). Show those who are addicted to social media (65.9%) benefit from the use of social media to improve their grades.

Discussion

The main purpose of this study was to examine the association between social media usage and academic performance among medical students in two colleges of medicine in Medina, KSA. We found a positive association between social media usage and students’ academic performance. We recommend researchers evaluating the impact of social media in medical education look at the opportunities and challenges in integrating social media into the current framework for medical teaching.

In our study, 49.5% of medical students used social media for about 3–5 hours per day, which is considered a longer time compared to the time spent globally on social media, which is 2 hours and 27 minutes per day on average.¹⁶ Another study reported that 41.5% of medical students use social media for an average of 1–3 hours.¹ A study in Riyadh; KSA revealed that 55% of medical students used social media daily for 1–4 hours.¹² Our study was done during the COVID-19 pandemic which may explain the increase in the time spent on social media by our students. A cross-sectional study among university students in Turkey found that during COVID-19 students used social media more frequently than previously, leading to increased social media addiction.⁵ A more recent study done during the COVID-19 pandemic among university students in Indonesia found that mild depression was more likely to be experienced by students with higher social media addiction ratings.¹⁷

Medical students are at a higher risk of mental health problems, which can affect their behavior such as social media usage. They usually have the highest academic workload among university students, making them more susceptible to anxiety and depression.⁸ For example, a study done in China has shown that additional pressure, such as postgraduate examination can affect the mental health of medical students, and such mental health problems can reverse to normal after the pressure is removed.¹⁸

56.3% of our medical students agreed that online social networks distract them from their studies, and 43.3% of students agreed that hours spent online can never be compared to the number of hours they spend studying. So, social media distractions can affect the ability of the students to complete their tasks. Two main reasons for social media distraction are task-related and social distractions. Task-related distraction is when people use social media to escape from unpleasant activities or to make unfavorable activities more pleasant, while social distraction is a result of striving to connect with people and meet their expectations.¹⁹

About half of medical students agreed that engaging in academic discussions on social media has improved their academic performance, and they used social media to disseminate knowledge to their classmates. Similarly, a cross-sectional study done among medical students in KSA showed that 96% of students believed that the use of social media was beneficial. Moreover, two-thirds of students reported using social media daily for learning, and YouTube was the most common social media platform used for learning.²⁰ A systematic review of social media usage in undergraduate medical education showed that social media use can help students and teachers communicate more effectively and may improve short-term knowledge retention. However, research on the efficacy of long-term knowledge retention has been limited.²¹

Two-thirds of our sample believe that male and female students use social media networks differently. A study done in Pakistan showed differences in how each gender uses social media. Females utilize social networking sites for educational purposes, but males mostly use them for communication.²²

Our study showed that males were more addicted to social media than females. Several other researchers have investigated the variation in social media usage among both genders. Similarly, a cross-sectional study among medical students at the University of Sharjah showed that males are more addicted to social media than females.¹⁵ A study in Ghana among Koforidua Technical University students found that female students spent more time on social media than male colleagues.¹³ Also, another study conducted among biology students at a Chinese four-year university found males used social media platforms more than females.²³ Moreover, a study among university students in KSA showed that females spend more time on social media than males.²⁴ In contrast to another study at King Saud University in KSA, the authors reported no significant difference between female and male uses of social media among medical students, implying that gender has no bearing on social media use.¹²

A study suggests that medical students’ use of social media improves their academic performance.¹⁰ These results are consistent with our sample’s beliefs, as 48.3% of students agreed that social media usage has helped improve their grades. Also, our study showed that students with excellent GPAs are less likely to be addicted to social media networks (54.8%), and they perceive using social media is not helping to improve their grades compared to other students. Moreover, in a cross-sectional study conducted among medical students in Jeddah, KSA, most medical students believed that social media positively impacted their academic performance. However, no significant relationship was found between the students’ GPA and the time spent on social media.²⁵ A study done among medical students in Riyadh, KSA found no significant association between GPA and the frequency of daily social media use.¹² Also, a study among second-year medical students in Iraq showed that time spent on social media does not affect their academic performance.²⁶

Our study demonstrated a positive association between social media usage and academic performance, and those addicted to social media benefit from the use of social media to improve their grades. Similarly, a study among five public universities in KSA found a positive relationship between social media usage intensity and students’ academic performance.²⁴

Several studies have shown a negative correlation between social media and students’ academic performance. A cross-sectional study among medical students showed a weak negative correlation between social media usage and academic performance; academically low-performing students had significantly higher social media use than high-performing students.¹ Another study disclosed that the use of social media among university students had negatively affected their academic performance.¹³

This study has limitations. For example, we used convenience sampling and the data we collect through surveys is self-reported; therefore, students can provide inaccurate information, and there may have been bias toward the more active students. Also, our target population was only medical students in Medina, KSA which may limit the generalizability of our findings. Furthermore, longitudinal studies are required to assess students’ social media usage before entering medical school, while studying medicine, and after graduation to understand a better picture.

Conclusions

It has been used that social media are used commonly among university students, and with the widespread access to the internet and portable devices during class hours, it can adversely impact students’ academic performance. In this cross-sectional study, 842 medical students participated in investigating the usage of social media. The results showed that males used social media more common, and students with better GPAs were less likely to be addicted to social media. On the other hand, students who are addicted to social media often can use such resources to improve their grades.

This is an encouraging finding by focusing on making social media platforms as educational tools by enhancing the use of information and communication in these platforms to improve the student’s academic performance.