Association of Social Media Engagement with Short-Term Memory and Academic Performance

A Study Among Undergraduate Dental Students

Autores/as

  • Basim M.H. Zwain
  • Salman Abdulhussain Hintau
  • Mohammed Hussain M. Alsharbaty Branch of Prosthodontics, College of Dentistry, University of Al-Ameed, Karbala 56001, Iraq
  • Ashraf Shubbar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/d3000.2026.1414

Palabras clave:

Dental Education, Social Media, Memory, Cognition, Academic Performance

Resumen

This study aimed to investigate the association between the level of engagement with social media, measured by daily online hours, and its impact on short-term memory, the last three years of college academic performance, and prior secondary school ministerial examination grade point average in a sample of dental students at the University of Al-Ameed, College of Dentistry in Karbala, Iraq. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 558 participants (216 males and 342 females) aged 21–24 years. They were students at the College of Dentistry/ University of Al-Ameed. They were grouped according to their daily social media engagement hours into five ascending groups: A, B, C, D, and E. Their short-term memory test (STMT) scores, academic performance (CP) scores, and prior secondary school ministerial examination grade point averages (MEGPA) were put down and statistically analyzed. A significant positive correlation was found between prior MEGPA and CP, indicating consistency in academic aptitude. Critically, a significant negative correlation was observed between the number of daily online hours (social media engagement) and MEGPA, CP, and STMT. The negative impact was intensified with increasing engagement hours, with female students exhibiting a more pronounced vulnerability. Students with lower academic performance might engage more in social media, as the present study revealed that elevated engagement with social media was associated with lower academic achievement, and this detrimental effect is more severe for female students. These findings underscore the need for digital wellness interventions and gender-aware educational policies to mitigate the potential cognitive and academic costs of excessive online engagement among college students.

Descargas

Publicado

2026-06-16

Número

Vol. 14 Núm. 1 (2026)

Sección

Adults & the Elderly

Licencia

Derechos de autor 2026 Basim M.H. Zwain, Salman Abdulhussain Hintau, Mohammed Hussain M. Alsharbaty, Ashraf Shubbar

Creative Commons License

Esta obra está bajo una licencia internacional Creative Commons Atribución 4.0.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
  6. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  7. The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  8. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.

Revised 7/16/2018. Revision Description: Removed outdated link.