INVESTIGATING SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE AMONG THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING STUDENTS

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the extent of social media use by deaf/hard of hearing (DHH) and to examine the most used social media for them in addition to identifying the reasons for their use of social media. Additionally, to explore gender-based differences in used social media. A cross-sectional study involved 121 DHH adolescent students in Saudi Arabia (MAge = 18.2 years; SDage = 2.98 years) using the questionnaire prepared by researchers titled “The extent of social media use among DHH.” Findings revealed that 95.86% use social media daily while 0.82% use social media poorly. The most used social media were Snapchat, Tiktok, and Instagram. The results also indicated that DHH uses social media to chat with groups of friends via video and messages; Watch and share videos and photos. There were no gender-based differences in the use of social media. The study recommended that teachers and professionals working with DHH offer them opportunities to learn the optimal and correct use of social media sites and to avoid engaging in suspicious social media sites. Keywords : Social Media, Deaf Students, Hard of Hearing Students, Adolescent, Saudi Arabia DOI： https://doi.org/10.35741/issn.0258-2724.58.1.14