Geneva Health Forum 2024

The Impact Of Social Media On The Academic Performance And Mental Health Of Medical Students At Shimoga Institute Of Medical Sciences, Shimoga, Karnataka, India

Not scheduled

15m

Geneva

Oral presentation Health and the environment, time for solutions

Description

INTRODUCTION
Society has been transformed by social media into a worldwide forum. Social media have become inextricably linked to our daily lives, and their use among students has increased dramatically in the previous decade, with inconsistent statistics on their impact on academic achievement and mental health. The use of social networking sites (SNS) is on the rise, as is the prevalence of anxiety and depression among young people.More usage of SNSs and dependence on them were linked to anxiety and depression, according to a study conducted in Kolkata, West Bengal.

OBJECTIVES
To estimate the social media usage among Medical students
To estimate the impact of social media usage on Mental health and Academic performance of medical students.

METHODOLOGY
This descriptive cross-sectional study included a sample of 200 medical students from the first phase to the final phase of MBBS. The participants were selected randomly using a simple random sampling method from the college attendance register. The study stool had the following sections:
Demographic and academic details of participants
Structured Questionnaire for assessment of the use of SNSs.
Structured Questionnaire for assessment on academic performance
Assessment of anxiety-State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)
Assessment of depression-Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI)
Participants were screened for state anxiety using a specific cut-off (39/40) as outlined in the STAI manual for college students. The BDI for screening depression was used as per the guidelines.

RESULTS
All 200 participants agreed to use social media, with 59.7% using three or more platforms. YouTube was the most commonly used platform (97.5%), followed by Snapchat (97.0%), WhatsApp (62.7%), Telegram (62.2%), and Reddit (60.2%). Entertainment was the primary reason for social media usage (55.7%), followed by communication (30.8%) and education/professional activities (11.9%). On average, participants spent 2-4 hours per day on social media, with 37.8% admitting to using it first thing in the morning. Additionally, 85.1% reported using social media for academic purposes. However, social media had a negative impact on academic performance for 59.2% of participants, and 61.7% reported negative effects on their mental health. Furthermore, 62.7% of participants admitted to feeling addicted to social media. The study linked 147 participants (73.5%) to anxiety, with varying levels of depression, including mild mood disturbances (9.5%), borderline clinical depression (7%), moderate depression (6.5%), and severe depression (3.5%). These findings highlight the significant presence of social media among medical students, with potential implications for academic performance and mental well-being.