Use of social networking sites among medical undergraduates of a medical college in north-west India.
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Date
2014-01
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Abstract
Introduction: Use of Internet for communication has become a very important part of young people's life. Social networking sites are virtual communities that allow users to create a profile and interact with friends. One area of interest in this field is regarding the activities of medical students on social networking sites and how these activities affect their academic performances. Objective: To assess the use of social networking sites and its impact on academic performance among medical undergraduates of a rural medical College. Methodology: It was a cross sectional study conducted over a period of three weeks in December 2013 among undergraduate students of Dr RPGMC Kangra at Tanda. A self-administered questionnaire was used to conduct the study. Data was entered in Microsoft excel sheet and analysed.Result: A total of 150 participants were enrolled of which only 141 agreed to participate. Among these 74 (52%) were males and 68 (48%) females. The mean age of the subjects was 20.2 ± 1.5 years. Majority 123 (87.2 %) used multiple networking sites, 45 % (60/123) had joined communities related to medicine. More than half 52.7 % (65/123) of subjects used these multiple sites to remain connected
with their friends.81.7% (49/60) visited medical communities daily and 93.9% (46/49) among them said that these communities has helped increase their knowledge. Average time spent per session was 10-30 minutes among 26.8 % (33/ 123) participants.Conclusion: The results of the study showed that role of social networking sites among undergraduate students pursuing a professional course is important while communicating with friends and people of their own field. It helps them in broadening
their knowledge and they feel it has helped them positively in their academic performance.
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Keywords
social networking sites, undergraduates, academic performance
Citation
Singh Mitasha, Kaistha Madhvi, Sood Abbi|ash, Raina S K, Bansal P, Bhardwaj Ashok Kumar. Use of social networking sites among medical undergraduates of a medical college in north-west India. Sub-Himalayan Journal of Health Research. 2014 Jan-June; 1(1): 9-11.