This study demonstrated the widespread use of facebook among 98.2 % of the health science students in a medical college of Nepal. This was found to be similar in comparison, to studies conducted in different countries [12–14] on the same subject. In addition to ease of connecting with friends or family, facebook’s news updates in a variety of different categories (sports, politics, education, health etc.) encourages its users to spend even more of their leisure time on the site. The increasing availability of Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), portable devices, and the popularity of facebook itself, might have also contributed to facebook use among this population. According to Hew KF [2], facebook has very little educational value and the participants mainly used facebook to keep in contact with the known individuals which were found to be concurring with this study. Moreover, this study also demonstrated that only 5 % of participants used facebook for academic purpose, while other studies conducted by Raacke et al. [15] and Gray et al. [13] reported academic use to be higher (10.9 and 25.5 % respectively). This difference could be due to academic culture and varied institutional policies on the use of internet in these institutions. While one-fourth of users in this study were found to be accessing facebook during leisure time, when accessed regularly, there is potential risk for developing addictive behaviours, through the development of poor self-discipline and task avoidance [16].
A majority of the students accessed facebook on daily basis, in higher numbers than similar past studies [13, 17]. Most of the students spent time on facebook on average, less than 1–2 h daily, which was consistent with the findings reported by others [18, 19]. A majority of participants in this study admitted that they were on facebook until late at night (61.5 %). A similar finding was obtained by Farooqi et al. among the students of Dow University in Pakistan [20]. Young KS found that the university students’ sleep patterns were disrupted due to facebook use late at night, leading to fatigue and impaired academic performance [21]. This study also supported the findings of previous studies [6, 17] that the majority of students accessed facebook using mobile devices. This particular method of accessing facebook could be due to increased availability of internet access and newer versions of operating systems on mobile devices that support facebook use.
Similar to the previous studies [2, 6, 22], a small number of students reported that relevant academic information was accessible through the facebook. The majority of the participants felt that they could acquire academic assistance from other facebook users to some degree, which was higher than a previous study conducted by Gafni and Deri [6]. Facebook allows for rapid, easy access, and immediate interaction among students and their teachers. This use of facebook can facilitate rapid consultation and dissemination of lecture notes, prior exam information, and other information, much more quickly than using traditional methods of learning. As a result, facebook has been found to be effective in obtaining information quickly from others, saving time, and money [6]. However, Hew [2] reviewed that only a minimal number of facebook users actually asked for assistance from facebook friends, while most of the students preferred discussing their personal life over their studies. Therefore, spending time on facebook may significantly compromise a student’s academic success. In this study, 67.5 % of the users admitted that facebook negatively affected their studies, which was higher than the finding of a previous study by Farooqi et al. [20].
The data from previous studies clearly indicated that the excessive use of social media, compromises actual live social interaction and academic accomplishments. It may also be associated with relationship problems, personal loneliness, and depression [23, 24]. We found that very small population (8.6 %) spent more time on facebook than live interactions with others, unlike the result obtained by the previous study [20]. However, 17.4 % of participants indicated that facebook was a source of inspiration and motivation for them. This is consistent with the findings of Farooqi et al. who observed that many students admitted that excessive facebook use had ruined their social life, causing them to spend less time with their loved ones [20]. Moreover, the researchers at the University of Southern California reported that an increasing number of people, admitted to spending less time with their family members as result of excessive use of the internet, including social networking sites [25].
Young people have an increased tendency to develop additive behaviour with facebook use. However, they are usually unaware of this additive behaviour [20]. In this study, one-fourth of the users found it difficult to spend an entire day without accessing facebook. Half of them complained of feeling irritated when they were disturbed while using facebook, which was consistent with the findings of previous studies [17, 20]. More than half of the participants received complaints from their family or friends about the amount of time they spent on facebook. As these are some of the key components in determining the facebook addiction according to ‘Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS)’ [26], this supports the theory that these participants possibly have some degree of facebook addiction. Sharifah et al. identified the negative behavioural consequences of social networking as: hyperactivity, attention deficit, depression, and multi-tasking mania [27]. Thus, proper education regarding the use of social media is needed.
As with any other technology facebook is not unique for eliciting both positive and negative effects on its users. Previous studies have shown adverse effects similar to computer use, such as: headache, backache, weight change, and eye problems [17, 28]. Of those reported by the users in this study, burning eyes, disturbed sleep, and headache were the most common reported adverse health effects. On the other hand, 23.2 % of participants denied experiencing any adverse effects. Sierra et al. stated that both quantity and quality of sleep might strongly influence mood [29] and subjective well-being, which in turn could impact the academic performance [21, 30] of the students who use facebook late at night and do not allow for sufficient sleep. Al-Dubai et al. had clearly indicated a significant association between facebook use, its adverse health effects, and unhealthy behavior. They have recommended that higher educational institutions should create awareness and safer practices for their students. Additionally, they have advocated regular health screening of students to avoid the possible health consequences due to facebook use [31].
Although a majority of students (71.5 %) claimed that they tried to reduce their time spent on facebook, one-fourth of them were not successful indicating additive behavior, consistent with the result found by Farooqi et al. [20]. It is worth mentioning that the students were willing to invest more of their time on their studies rather than on facebook. Further studies in a large population may reveal the factors associated with positive and negative impacts of facebook use among the health science students.
Since information technology is rapidly evolving, popular social networks like facebook, could be used by the educational institutions for academic purposes, such as uploading data and sharing educational materials. It is likely that more students will use social sites like facebook in future, as more attractive features are offered to their users. This will undoubtedly affect the students’ learning process and have an impact on their health and personal life. Therefore, new approaches and tools need to be developed for evaluating the facebook use and its consequences among students.
