Horizon of Medical Education Development

Virtual Social Networks: The Opportunity for Academic Progress or the Threat of Procrastination of Medical Students

https://doi.org/10.22038/hmed.2024.80807.1387
Volume 16, Issue 3
Summer 2025
Pages 79-86
Horizon of Medical Education Development

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Leila Safabakhsh 1
Javid Dehghan Haghighi 2
Amin Shariati 3
Afsaneh Karimi 4

1 Education Studies and Development Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.

2 Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.

3 Student Research Committee, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.

4 Pregnancy Health Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.

Abstract
Introduction: Procrastination is a widespread global phenomenon among university students that interferes with academic performance and daily activities. Procrastination may be exacerbated by technologies such as social networks. This study aimed to determine the relationship between the use of virtual social networks and the academic procrastination of medical students.
Materials & Methods:  In this descriptive-analytical study, 220 medical students were studied with a convenient sampling method. Data was collected using a 3-part online questionnaire. The first part of the questionnaire was related to demographic characteristics, the second part was the academic procrastination questionnaire and the third part was the questionnaire about the use of virtual networks whose validity and reliability were confirmed in previous studies. Descriptive and analytical statistics and SPSS software were used to analyze the collected data.
Results: All students used social networks. Among social networks, all students used Telegram, while only 3.2% used Facebook. The highest and lowest average duration of using social networks were Instagram (58.31 ± 42.19 minutes per day) and Twitter (7.59 ± 9.73 minutes per day), respectively. Basic science students used WhatsApp and Instagram social networks significantly less than students of other courses (P=0.004 and P<0.001). The average score of the research community from the academic procrastination questionnaire was 69.65 ± 22.41. The average score obtained from the virtual networks usage questionnaire was 56.30 ± 21.48. There was a significant moderate positive correlation between academic procrastination and virtual networks (P<0.001, r=0.228).
Conclusion: Virtual social networks were related to students' academic procrastination, and procrastinating students spent more time using mobile phones, especially Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram social networks.

Keywords

Academic procrastination
Social Networks
Medical Students
  1. Harrison B, Gill J, Jalali A. Social media etiquette for the modern medical student: a narrative review. International Journal of Medical Students. 2014; 2(2):64-7.
  2. Ziegler N, Opdenakker MC. The development of academic procrastination in first-year secondary education students: The link with metacognitive self-regulation, self-efficacy, and effort regulation. Learning and Individual Differences. 2018 May 1; 64:71-82.
  3. Emamirizi C. The effect of use social networks on the girls students’ academic achievement. Education Strategies in Medical Sciences. 2016 Aug 10; 9(3):206-13. [In Persion]
  4. Ebrahimi A, Azar F. The Effect of Excessive Use of Virtual Social Networks on the Academic Performance of Bamyan University Students: The Mediating Role of Qualityof Sleep. International Journal of Social Sciences and Human Research. 2021 Apr; 4(4):723-729. [In Persion]
  5. Kirschner PA, Karpinski AC. Facebook® and academic performance. Computers in human behavior. 2010; 26(6):1237-45.
  6. Izadpanah S, Charmi M. The effect of social networks on academic self-handicapping with the mediating role of self-regulatory learning strategies and academic achievement among EFL students. Frontiers in Psychology. 2022; 13:987381. [In Persion]
  7. 7.Hayat AA, Jahanian M, Bazrafcan L, Shokrpour N. Prevalence of academic procrastination among medical students and its relationship with their academic achievement. Shiraz E-Medical Journal. 2020 Jul 31; 21(7). [In Persion]
  8. Dong T-P, Cheng N-C, Wu Y-CJ. A study of the social networking website service in digital content industries: The Facebook case in Taiwan. Computers in Human Behavior. 2014; 30:708-14.
  9. Ghasemi Jobaneh R, Mousavi SV, Zanipoor A, Hoseini Seddigh MA. The relationship between mindfulness and emotion regulation with academic Procrastination of Students. Education Strategies in Medical Sciences. 2016 Jul 10; 9(2):134-41. [In Persion]
  10. Wang Y, GAO H, Liu J, Fan XL. Academic procrastination in college students: The role of self-leadership. Personality and Individual Differences. 2021 Aug 1; 178:110866.
  11. 11.Al Shaibani MH, Hejab M, Shaibani A. Academic procrastination among university students in Saudi Arabia and its association with social media addiction. Psychology and Education. 2020; 57(8):1118-24.
  12. Motie H, Heidari M, Sadeghi MA. Predicting academic procrastination during self-regulated learning in Iranian first grade high school students. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 2012 Dec 24; 69:2299-308.
  13. Chari MH, Dehghani Y. Predicting the amount of academic procrastination based on self-regulation strategies in learning. Research in educational systems. 2017; 2(4):63-73.
  14. Namian S, Hosseinchari M. Explaining Academic Procrastination of Students Based on Religious Beliefs and Controlling Core. Quarterly Journal of Educational Psychology. 2011; 8(24):49-70. [In Persion]
  15. Mahdikhani M, Yazdani B. Transformational leadership and service quality in e-commerce businesses: The role of trust and team performance. International Journal of Law and Management. 2020; 62(1):23-46. [In Persion]
  16. Soleymani M, Sadipoor E, Asadzadeh H. Relationship between using mobile phone’s virtual social media and students’ academic procrastination, feeling lonely and mental health. Information and Communication Technology in Educational Sciences. 2016; 6(4 (24)):127-44. [In Persion]
  17. Chavoshzadeh ZS. The relationship between mental health and Internet addiction in between young adults in Yazd [Master Thesis]. Tehran: Allameh Tabatabaei University Tehran Persian 2009. [In Persion]
  18. Tras Z, Gökçen G. Academic Procrastination and Social Anxiety as Predictive Variables Internet Addiction of Adolescents. International Education Studies. 2020; 13(9):23-35.
  19. A’lamElhuda D, Dimetry DA. The impact of facebook and others social networks usage on academic performance and social life among medical students at Khartoum university. International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research. 2014; 3(5):6-41.
  20. Soroudi S, Mostafapour S, Olumi Sh. Investigating the relationship between "social network use" and "depression" among students of Mashhad School of Paramedical Sciences. Horizon of Medical Education Development. 2021; 12(1); 6-24.
  21. Salehi L, Palizban F. Academic Procrastination, Educational Burnout and its Predictors in Rehabilitation Sciences Students of Iran University of Medical Sciences. Horizon of Medical Education Development. 2022; 13(4); 6-17.

Home

Submit Manuscript

Contact Us