Research on the relationship between excessive use of social media and young athletes’ physical activity

Abstract

Social media have an ambivalent effect on the physical activity of young athletes. The purpose is to establish the relationship between young athletes’ psychological disorders through the excessive use of social media. The main task was to analyze whether there is a deviation from training, which increases time spent on social media. Research methods. The study is based on the results of anonymous valid psychodiagnostic tools submitted to Google Forms and statistical analysis. Physical activity of young athletes (N = 110) aged 16 to 21 years was assessed on the scales of diagnostic tests, parameters of physical activity, time spent online, feelings of loneliness, and sleep disorders due to excessive use of social media during the global pandemic. Results. It was found that during quarantine, young athletes prefer to displace bad thoughts and distract from training for spending too much time on social media applications (rs = .202; p ≤ .05). It was stated that young athletes experience negative emotions due to the situation with the coronavirus, which leads to the increased time spent on social media, which is a kind of coping strategy (rs = .340; p ≤ .01). As a result of uncontrolled use of social media and reduced parameters of physical activity, competitive performance during the lockdown, young athletes face sleep disorders (rs = - .277; p ≤ .01) and manifestations of depression (rs = .430; p ≤ .01). Conclusions. It is empirically established and theoretically substantiated that there are causal links to excessive use of social media due to reduced parameters of physical activity. The decreased physical activity provokes an exacerbation of loneliness, training regimen, and recovery. It is noted that the “mask of the active user” encourages manifestations of depression, displacement of feelings, and problems, which leads to a decrease in the psychological well-being of young athletes.