Nursing students attitude towards social media use

Social media has turned into a portion of our daily life. As each coin has two sides, social media also has favoured standpoint and hindrance. Social media can boon or a bane depends upon our exploitation of the way we use it. Today, social media use is nearly universal among Adolescents. They are the most enthusiastic users of social networking and social media.

An explorative - descriptive study was conducted at Mohamed Sathak AJ College of Nursing, Chennai, with the sample size of 84. Samples were selected through convenience sampling technique. Data was collected by self administered method by using a demographic variables proforma of students and Rating scale on Attitude towards social media use.

Majority of the Nursing students' 69(82%) belongs to 18-19 yrs. Only 23 (27%) were males, regarding year of study 39(46%) of them belong to I year and majority 46(55%) of them resides in rural area. Only 10(12%) of their mothers completed college and only 8(10%) of their fathers e completed the college. With regard to monthly income of the family, majority of them 42(50%) drawing less than Rs.10, 000 and majority of them 59 (70%) were day scholar. Regarding the employment status of parents, only 15(18%) of parents were employed both. Majority 40 (48%) of them use mobile phones, less than one year. Mean and SD of Nursing students Attitude towards social media use was 53.86± 11. 53. Iyear Nursing students and students whose parents studied higher had positive attitude towards social media use. Regarding type of stay, students who are coming from their house to college and more years of mobile phone users had more negative attitude towards social media use.

The above findings reveal that the Nursing students had positive attitude towards social media use where the researcher pointed out that information on social media has lack of professional gatekeepers to monitor content. How to evaluate the information trustworthiness on social media platform has become an important issue for today information consumers.