Student’s physical activity engagement through social media: A study in COVID-19 lockdown

Abstract

The use of social media is increasingly prevalent for many reasons and academic literature suggests that social media helps encourage physical activity. This research investigated how social media content affected the physical activity of students during the COVID-19 lockdown and subsequent COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. This descriptive cross-sectional study took place between February 2021 and May 2021 at three different academic institutions located in various states in India. A self-made questionnaire consisting of 10 close-ended and 3 open-ended questions was designed to assess students’ utilization of social media to gather knowledge of physical activities from different platforms. A web-based survey was used to collect data from 606 students (of whom 361 (59.57%) were male and 243 (40.10%) were female) from different courses and degree levels using criterion-based purposive sampling. Close-ended questions were analyzed using the percentage method and open-ended questions were analyzed with a collaborative data analysis approach which revealed three themes namely interest, self-care and impact. The results of this study indicate that students are taking help from social media to carry out their physical activities. The outcomes of this study will serve as the baseline information which is helpful in developing and validating methods that best capture the diverse needs of teachers and students within the context of online delivery of physical activities.