Running head: FACEBOOK USE AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
The Relationship Between Facebook Use and Physical Activity
Shanae Rannow
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
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Running head: FACEBOOK USE AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
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Abstract
Previous research has identified social media as being widely used by college students.
Many researchers are interested in how social media affects other facets of people’s lives. This
study attempted to determine if there was a negative relationship between Facebook use and
physical activity in college students. Participants were asked to complete a paper survey that
asked them to self report on their frequency of Facebook use as well as their frequency and
intensity of physical activity. Ultimately, there was no significant correlation between Facebook
use and physical activity. The results may indicate that Facebook use and physical activity are
equally important in a college student’s life.
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The Relationship Between Facebook Use and Physical Activity
Social networking sites are used widely throughout all ages of people. Smith and Caruso
(2010) found that Facebook is the most popular of social networks, with more than 96% of
college students using the site. Facebook can be used for communicating with friends, picture
sharing, video sharing, application and game playing, as well as other things. With Facebook
being used by such a large amount of college students, there is interest in how Facebook relates
to how much physical activity a person is participating in. When coming to college many
students are cautious of weight gain, but we wonder if Facebook use is taking time away from
physical activity which could contribute to weight gain. This is an important topic to study
because Facebook use can be seen as a sedentary behavior. According to Lepp, Barkley, Sanders,
Rebold, and Gates (2013), people who partake in a large amount of sedentary behavior are at a
greater risk for health problems. Lepp and colleagues also state that college students today are
the first generation of college students raised in the digital age. Facebook is a normal and
seemingly important part of college life, but physical activity should be as well.
In a study completed by Napolitano, Hayes, Bennett, Ives, and Foster (2013), results
indicated that if a weight loss program was delivered to college students via Facebook that the
weight loss program was more effective compared to the control group. Findings provide
additional evidence that college students use Facebook and that students are open to participating
in physical activity. This makes one wonder if students may be more open to participating in
physical activity if they are unsatisfied with their self-image. Facebook allows people to photo
share and to give and receive feedback on those photos; consequently interactions on Facebook
may have an effect on self-image and/or self-esteem. Gonzales and Hancock (2009) were
interested in how college students view their self-presentation in digital media. Data provided
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evidence that self-esteem is actually enhanced by viewing one’s own Facebook profile. College
students who had more Facebook friends also had more positive views of their appearance
(Rutledge, Gillmor, & Gillen, 2013). The study by Rutledge and colleagues also found that
people who spent less time on Facebook were more concerned with their appearance compared
to their peers who spent more time on Facebook and were less concerned with their appearance.
If college students are using Facebook more, they may have higher self-esteem and may not see
a reason to participate in physical activity because they may be satisfied with their body image
already. Between Facebook use and physical activity, Facebook may seem like the more
necessary of activities at that point in a person’s life. Gray, Vitak, Easton, and Ellison (2012),
were interested in how young people adjust to college using social media. Their study supported
the hypothesis that social networks, specifically Facebook, help students socially adjust to the
college environment, help students feel more connected with their college and their peers, and
increase the chance that students will stay enrolled in college past their first year (Gray et al.,
2012). Although Facebook could be taking up time used to be physically active, it seems that it is
an important part of connecting to college culture in this generation. This may be a reason why
college students chose to use Facebook as much as they do.
Facebook can also be used in different ways such as by computer, tablet, or cell phone.
Lepp and colleagues found a relationship between cell phone use, physical activity, and
cardiovascular health in college students. Data supported the hypothesis that increased cell phone
usage was related to poorer cardiovascular health, increased participation in sedentary activities,
and a decreased desire to participate in physical activities in order to use their cell phones (Lepp
et al., 2013). If students are using Facebook on their cell phones, then it seems they may be
missing opportunities to be active in order to use Facebook.
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In summary, previous studies indicate that Facebook is a widely used social media outlet
for college students. Positive self-image is related with Facebook use, as well as positive social
adjustment. There is also data suggesting that increased cell phone usage is related to decreased
physical activity and diminished cardiovascular health. There are no present studies that
specifically examine Facebook use and the relationship with physical activity. In a college
setting, physical activity especially interested as us we believe physical activity helps to promote
overall health. We want to fill that gap in research.
We are going to study the relationship between Facebook use and frequency of physical
activity. Like the previous studies, our participants will consist of college students in all years of
school. We are going to use the Facebook Intensity scale (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007) to
measure frequency and emotional connectedness to Facebook. To study physical activity, we
will use a survey that asks participants about hours of exercise per week and intensity of the
exercise they typically complete. These surveys will be distributed in classes and will be
completed on paper. Our hypothesis is that Facebook use and physical activity will have a
significant relationship and that the relationship will be negative. We believe that the more
frequent someone uses Facebook, the less time they will spend being physically active.
Method
Participants
In the study, we collected data from 46 participants (N= 14 male, 32 female.).
Participants were Caucasian (56.5%) or minorities (43.5%). Students reported to be freshman
(6.5%), sophomores (13%), juniors (39.1%), and seniors (41.3%) all of whom were enrolled in
college courses at the University of Minnesota during the time of the study. We used
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convenience sampling of undergraduate courses at the University of Minnesota. The participants
in this study were not compensated for their time.
Materials
The study was done using a paper-and-pencil survey. At the beginning of the survey, an
informed consent form was provided which included the option for the participants to request
contact information. The first portion of the survey consisted of items written for this study,
questions about personal Facebook use, questions about personal physical activity patterns (see
Appendix A). The second portion of the survey used questions pulled from the Facebook
Intensity Scale (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007) as well as the Yale Physical Activity Survey
(DePietro, Casperson, Ostfeld, & Nadel, 1993) (see Appendix B).
Procedure
Students in each undergraduate class were asked to participate in a study about Facebook
trends in college students; those who were interested were given a paper survey. The informed
consent was given to them in a typed paragraph that was at the beginning of the survey before
any questions were asked (see Appendix A). Throughout the survey, students were asked to
circle the answer they felt best fit their life and were told they could skip any question they did
not feel comfortable answering or did not know the answer to. When participants finished the
survey we collected them and then asked them to sit and wait until every participant was done
with the survey. When each participant completed the survey, we read our debriefing statement
out loud to the group of participants (see Appendix C).
Results
From the survey we chose five variables to use in our analysis which included how many
hours a day a participant used Facebook, how many times per day the Facebook website was
opened, how many hours a week the participant exercised, the intensity of their workouts, and
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the score they got on the Facebook Intensity Scale. The intercorrelation between all study
variables can be seen in Figure 1. Results indicated daily hours of Facebook use was
significantly correlated with how many times a participant accessed the Facebook website, r(45)
= .509, p = .001. Results also indicated that daily hours of Facebook use was significantly
correlated with the Facebook Intensity Scale, r(45) = .587, p = .001, and negatively correlated to
workout intensity r(45) = -.289, p = .051. As expected, hours per week of exercise was also
correlated with intensity of exercise, r(45) = .670, p = .001. All other variables were not
significantly correlated as seen in Table 1. Overall variables of Facebook habits and physical
activity habits did not have a statistically significant correlation. Participants responses to
Facebook use had a mean that was lower than the physical activity mean (see figure 2).
Discussion
The results from our study did not support our hypothesis that Facebook use and physical
activity would have a negative relationship. Our study built off of prior studies, none of which
examined the relationship between Facebook use and physical activity. Surprisingly, we also
found that participants did not use Facebook as much as we expected them to (M = 1.69) (see
figure 2). It may be that students in this sample were using other types of social media more,
which could have been a factor that led to our results being statistically insignificant.
Alternatively, it may also be possible that the students we surveyed were aware on the
importance of physical activity and were simply less active Facebook users. Finally, a further
limitation is the small sample size; perhaps if we had surveyed more college students, a
significant result may have been found.
Nevertheless, with the results obtained from this study, it is not safe to conclude that
Facebook use does not interrupt physical activity. We may have surveyed a group who does not
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represent the population in terms of Facebook use, so more students should be studied. Further
research should also be done to examine the relationship between other forms of social media
and physical activity. Any further research that is done should use larger samples, not rely on
convenience sampling methods, and examine multiple forms of social media use. This topic is an
important area to continue studying because good physical activity patterns are important for
maintaining a healthy lifestyle; if social media has any sort of relationship with physical activity
it should be recognized by the users of social media, professors, friends, and family. If it is
indeed found that physical activity and social media use are negatively related, then consumers
of social media would be well to do their part by recognizing the fact and changing their
behavior.
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References
DePietro, L., Casperson, C.J., Ostfeld, A.M., Nadel, E.R. (1993). A survey for assessing physical
activity among older adults. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 5, 628-642.
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social
capital and college students use of online social network sites. Journal of ComputerMediated Communication, 12, 1143-1168. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00367.x
Gonzales, A. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2009). Mirror, mirror on my Facebook wall: Effects of
exposure to Facebook on self-esteem. Journal of Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and
Networking, 14, 79-83. doi:1089/cyber.2009.0411
Gray, R., Vitak, J., Easton, E. W., & Ellison, N. B. (2012). Examining social adjustment to
college in the age of social media: Factors influencing successful transitions and
persistence. Journal of Computers & Education, 67, 193-207.
doi:10.1016/j.compedu.201
Lepp, A., Barkley, J. E., Sanders, G. J., Rebold, M., & Gates, P. (2013). The relationship
between cell phone use, physical and sedentary activity, and cardiorespiratory fitness in
a sample of U. S. college students. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and
Physical Activity, 10, 1-9. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-10-79
Napolitano, M. A., Hayes, S., Bennett, G. G., Ives, A. K., & Foster, G. D. (2012). Using
Facebook and text messaging to deliver a weight loss program to college students.
Obesity Journal, 21, 25-31. doi:10.1038/oby.2012.107
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Rutledge, C. M., Gillmor, K. L., & Gillen, M. M. (2013). Does this profile picture make me look
fat? Facebook and body image in college students. Psychology of Popular Media
Culture, 2, 251-258. doi:10.1037/ppm0000011
Smith, S. D., & Caruso, J. B. (2010). The ECAR study of undergraduate students and
information technology. Educause, 1-13.
Retrieved from anitacrawley.net/Resources/Reports/ECARstudyhighlights.pdf
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Appendix A
You are being asked to participate in a study as part of a class project in a research methods course in the
Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. If you choose to participate, no identifying
information will be gathered from you, so it will be impossible to identify you as a participant. If you choose
to participate, you may stop participating at any time. You may withdraw your data at any time, including
after you have completed the survey. You may ask me questions before or after you complete the survey. I
also can tell you how to contact the course instructor if you have any questions from him. You can skip any
questions you would prefer not to answer.
What year of college are you in? (circle one)
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior (+)
What is your gender? (circle one)
Male
Female
Prefer not to answer
What is your ethnicity? (circle one)
American Indian or Alaska Native
Asian
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
Black or African American
Caucasian
Student Status:
Full-time
Work Status:
Full-time (off campus)
Full-time (on campus)
Part-time (off campus)
Part-time (on campus)
Work Study only
Work Study plus other job
Hispanic or Latino
Part-time
Where do you live?
On-campus (in the dorm)
Off-Campus Student Housing (sorority, fraternity or other apartments for students)
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Off-Campus non-student housing
How many hours per day do you use your cell phone for calls/texts, internet, social media, and games not included?
0-2 hours
2-4 hours
4-6 hours
6+ hours
4-6 hours
6+ hours
Approximately how many hours per day do you use Facebook?
0-2 hours
2-4 hours
Approximately how many Facebook friends do you have?
0-200
200-400
400-600
600-800
800-1000
1000+
How many times per day do you open the Facebook website? Please include phone, tablet and computer usage.
0-5
5-10
10-15
15-20
20+
How often do you update your status?
Multiple times per day
Once daily
Once a week
Multiple times a week
Less than once a week
How do you most frequently access Facebook?
Primarily cell phone
Primarily computer
Primarily tablet
Do you have a gym membership/use the recreation center?
Yes
No
How many hours per week do you exercise?
less than 1 hour
1-2 hours 2-3 hours 3-4 hours
4-5 hours 5-6 hours
6-7 hours
more than 7 hours
What is the intensity of your workouts? Please rate on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being lowest intensity and 10 being the
highest.
1
2
3
4
5
How do you primarily get to class? (circle all that apply)
6
7
8
9
10
Running head: FACEBOOK USE AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Walk
Bus
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Bike
Drive
What types of physical activity do you routinely engage in? (circle all that apply)
strength-training (weights included)
swimming
running
aerobic group classes (Zumba, dance, aerobics, etc)
brisk walking
biking
other aerobic activities
non-aerobic group classes (pilates, yoga, etc.)
Appendix B
Rate the following items on a scale from 1 to 5, with one being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree.
1.) Facebook is a part of my everyday activity
1
2
3
4
5
2.) I am proud to tell people I am on Facebook
1
2
3
4
5
4
5
3.) Facebook is a part of my daily routine
1
2
3
4.) I feel out of touch when I haven’t logged onto Facebook for a while
1
2
3
4
5
5.) I feel I am part of the Facebook community
1
2
3
4
5
4
5
6.) I would be sorry if Facebook shut down
1
2
3
About how many times during the last month did you participate in vigorous activities that lasted at least ten minutes and caused
large increases in breathing, heart rate, leg fatigue, OR caused you to perspire?
1-3 times per month
1-2 times per week
3-4 times per week
About how long do you do this vigorous activity/ies each time?
Not applicable
10-30 minutes
31-60 minutes
60+ minutes
5+ times per week
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Think about the walks you have taken in the past month. About how many times per month do you walk for at least 10 minutes
or more, without stopping, which was not strenuous enough to cause large increases in breathing, heart rate, or leg fatigue, or
cause you to perspire?
Not at all
1-3 times per month
1-2 times per week
3-4 times per week
5+ times per week
When you do this walking, for how many minutes did you do it?
Not applicable
10-30 mintues
31-60 minutes
60+ minutes
About how many hours per day do you spend moving around on your feet while doing things? Please report only the time you
are actually moving.
Not at all
less than 1 hour per day
hours per day
1-3 hours per day
3-5 hours per day
5 to 7 hours per day
7+
Think about how much time you spend standing or moving around no your feet on an average day the last month. How many
hours per day do you stand?
Not at all
per day
less than 1 hour per day
1-3 hours per day
3-5 hours per day
5-7 hours per day
7+ hours
About how many hours did you spend sitting on an average day during the past month?
Not at all
less than 3 hours
3-6 hours
6-8 hours
8+hours
Saying that 10 steps is one flight, how many flights of stairs do you climb per day?
Less than 1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 or more
Appendix C
Debriefing Statement
Thank you for your participation in the study. All participants in this study were given the same survey. We are using the data
from the survey that you took to study the relationship between Facebook use and physical activity in college students. Personal
data that will be included in the study is only what is asked of you on the survey. Facebook use questions will be measured using
the Facebook intensity scale and physical activity will be measured using the Yale Physical Activity survey.
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Correlations
Facebook_hour Facebook_webs Hours_week_ex Intensity_of_exe
s_per_day
Facebook_hours_per_day
Pearson Correlation
ite_visit_day
Facebook_website_visit_da
Pearson Correlation
y
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Hours_week_exercise
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Intensity_of_exercise
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
FB_Intensity_Scale_Score
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
rcise
cale_Score
.509**
-.062
-.289
.587**
.000
.681
.051
.000
46
46
46
46
46
.509**
1
-.203
-.257
.565**
.176
.084
.000
46
46
46
1
.670**
-.194
.000
.197
1
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
ercise
FB_Intensity_S
.000
46
46
-.062
-.203
.681
.176
46
46
46
46
46
-.289
-.257
.670**
1
-.224
.051
.084
.000
46
46
46
46
46
.587**
.565**
-.194
-.224
1
.000
.000
.197
.134
46
46
46
46
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Figure 1. Correlation results from the 5 variables that were measured.
.134
46
Running head: FACEBOOK USE AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Figure 2. Means of each of the five variables with a 95% confidence interval.
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