The Effects of COVID-19 on Social Media and Exercise
Document Type
Poster Presentation
Keywords
COVID-19 Exercise Social Media
Biography
Destiny Tomblin is from Logan County, WV and is a senior undergraduate student. They take pride in their work with the psychology department as well as their involvement with the LGBTQ+ community on campus. Their ultimate goal is to attain a Psy.D at Marshall University and work as an on-site therapist for local High Schools in hopes to create trauma informed environments in public schools as well as offer LGBTQ+ resources for adolescence who may not have access to support at home.
Major
Psychology
Advisor for this project
Brittany Canady
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic effected many aspects of daily life for the average human being. Increasingly, individuals relied on technology to stay connected to jobs, family, friends, and health services. Due to this isolation, many people began to rely on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and more, to get daily updates about COVID-19, masks, grocery production, and social and political functions. A recent study found that in a sample of 150 college students, 94.7% reported to have dramatically increased their screen time during the COVID-19 lockdown meaning that 43.3% of participants spent more than 6 hours on their electronic devices daily (Akulwar-Tajane et al., 2021). The present study hypothesizes that a similar increase will be observed related to use of social media and internet resources for exercise and nutritional instruction, with decreases in traditional in-person instruction and engagement. This study will utilize an anonymous online survey distributed through Marshall University listservs to measure reported changes in exercise behavior and associated utilization of social media. Results will be included. Discussion will focus on implications of social media use and effectiveness and accuracy of information for health behaviors.
The Effects of COVID-19 on Social Media and Exercise
The COVID-19 pandemic effected many aspects of daily life for the average human being. Increasingly, individuals relied on technology to stay connected to jobs, family, friends, and health services. Due to this isolation, many people began to rely on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and more, to get daily updates about COVID-19, masks, grocery production, and social and political functions. A recent study found that in a sample of 150 college students, 94.7% reported to have dramatically increased their screen time during the COVID-19 lockdown meaning that 43.3% of participants spent more than 6 hours on their electronic devices daily (Akulwar-Tajane et al., 2021). The present study hypothesizes that a similar increase will be observed related to use of social media and internet resources for exercise and nutritional instruction, with decreases in traditional in-person instruction and engagement. This study will utilize an anonymous online survey distributed through Marshall University listservs to measure reported changes in exercise behavior and associated utilization of social media. Results will be included. Discussion will focus on implications of social media use and effectiveness and accuracy of information for health behaviors.
