Social Media Effects on the Academic Performance of Undergraduate Medical Students in KSA

Abstract

Background and Aims: A cross-sectional study aims to measure social media’s effects on the academic performance of undergraduate governmental and private medical students in KSA from October 2020 to March 2021. Methods: A total of 1200 students participated in the survey. After data collection, data were analyzed in terms of number and percentage, mean and SD, students’ t-test, and Pearson correlation coefficient test, using the SPSS-21. The data was collected using a questionnaire adapted from Osharive’s (2015) social media and the academic performance of the students’ questionnaire (SMAAPOS). Results: The sample size was 1670 students. One thousand twenty-one students responded to the questionnaire with a response rate of 72.45%. Students’ GPAs ranged from <2, 2.1-3.0, 3.1-4.0, and 4.1-5.0 were 0 (0.00%), 50 (4.62%), 420 (38.26%), and 610 (56.4%); respectively. Three hundred and seven (31.1%), 220 (18.5%), and 160 (13.4%) use Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, respectively. Nine hundred and eight students (81.7%) mentioned that the duration of using social media was more than five years, while 910 (75.21%) spent more than 5- 10 hours/ daily using social media. Eight hundred and seven (71.9%), 460 (38%), 36 (29.8), 700 (57.9%), and 280 (23.1%) use social media for social, games, professional, academic, and other purposes, respectively. The results showed Pearson correlation of a significant negative relationship between the time medical students spent on social media and their GPA, r = 0.1553. Conclusions: This study concludes a significant negative relationship between medical students’ time on social media and academic performance.