Social media makes life easy for Saudi students

(MENAFN- Arab News) DAMMAM: With the increasing number of scholarship students since the launch of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program 10 years ago parents are looking for all means of available communication with their children. The availability of privacy and affordable prices in many means of communication contribute to well-being of both students abroad and their families in the Kingdom.
A social affairs specialist Hannan Al-Issa said: 'Social and electronic communication means play an important role in communications between scholarship students and their families. These have a positive impact on students reducing their feelings of alienation and distance while they are abroad.'
Many parents and scholarship holders praised the social media and spoke about its advantages.
Fatimah Yazeed an employee in the private sector said: 'The means of visual communication is the best way to make sure that my son who is studying in Tucson Arizona is in a good health and does not need anything. Our whole family is in constant contact and he does not feel alienated from us.'
A scholarship student in Texas Nawaf Al-Firyaan said that he missed his homeland and family and uses all means of communication to alleviate his sense of alienation and keep him in touch with his family and friends.
Reem Kurdi who is studying computer programming in South Korea expressed her feelings of longing and nostalgia for her homeland and family saying that she is in contact with her family every day. 'My mother wakes me up every day in the morning and I send a live broadcast to her when I go to the university a restaurant and even from shopping malls' she said.
Another scholarship student said that Internet connections enabled him to contact his family and friends at any time and from any place without the prohibitive expense of international phone calls.