Introduction: Social networks have revolutionized the world. Students in Iran after entering the university often enter the college far from family, so the effects of such networks become more evident during the students' period. However, considering the role of the university in the training of specialist human resources, the researcher in this study, the status and application of virtual social networks in the life of students of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences were studied.
Materials and methods: This is a descriptive-analytical study that was conducted cross-sectional in 2018. All students of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences were the statistical population (4,600) that a sample of 900 people was selected as the final sample. The data gathering tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. To determine the content validity of the questionnaire and its confirmation, the opinions of professors and experts were used, and its reliability was measured by a test-retest method and confirmed by Cronbach's alpha (0/75). After data collection, SPSS software version 16 was used to analyze the data.
Results: The average daily student use of social networks was 2 h and 40 min, most of them were subscribed to Telegram, and connecting with friends was the main motive for joining social networks. There was no significant relationship between the use of social networks and the average student's lessons and also most of them had a moderate dependence on the Internet and had a high dependence on the social networks. In addition, there was a significant difference between Internet dependence and the gender of students.
Conclusion: A large percentage of students have become members of various social networks. There was excessive and unplanned use of the internet and social networks among them. Hence, by creating good opportunities and attractive social activities in universities to provide more participation of students in the real world, this can provide suitable times for them and prevent their dependence on virtual social networks.
Keywords: Education; Zahedan University; internet; medical student; social network.