Background: Ever since the 1990s, the Internet has revolutionized the world by the establishment of social media. It creates a media for students to construct knowledge. However, no clear research has been done to study the perception of medical students on social media. Therefore, the objective of this study is to understand the effect of social media on medical students learning behavior.
Methods: This is a qualitative study with a sample of 32 medical students that were enrolled using simple convenient sampling. Focus groups were used to collect the data by following a semi-structured format. The inclusion criteria were all medical students who use social media with no exclusion criteria. Thematic content analysis was utilized to reach a conclusion.
Results: Questions were centered about the use of social media in academic life and campus. Academically, two themes were generated: (I) A positive effect which included educational accounts, batch accounts, collaborative work, and communication (II) A negative effect which included time consumption and lack of credibility. In regard to use while on campus, two major themes were generated (I) A positive effect including communication and entertainment (II) A negative effect including distraction and technical issues.
Conclusion: This study shows that the use of social media platforms is beneficial in both communication and education. However, the negative aspects of social media should be acknowledged. Therefore, educational institutes should facilitate the access to reliable and well-structured resources that can aid students academically and ease communication between the students and faculty.
Key words: Social media, education, Medical students, learning behavior
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