An exploration of the distractions inherent to social media use among athletes

Abstract

Social media present athletes with a number of benefits and challenges. As a result, various sport stakeholders have debated appropriate social media use among athletes at major sport events, with some suggesting that using these platforms can have negative consequences. The purpose of this research was to examine the elements of social media that athletes perceive to be distracting during major sport events and the practices they undertake to address such distractions. Interviews with Australian elite athletes (N = 15) were conducted and data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal several elements associated with distraction, including positive and unwanted messages, branding pressures, and competitor content. Athletes reported two key practices that assisted in overcoming distractions, including switching off and handing over the control of their social media accounts. The findings extend distraction-conflict theory to athlete social media research, while presenting a preliminary conceptual model to assist researchers in further understanding the potential impact of social media distractions on athletes. Opportunities for sport practitioners to develop or implement social media education programs are described.

Season Suspension and Summer Extension: Unique Opportunity for Professional Team-Sport Athletes and Support Staff During and Following the COVID-19 Crisis

“…Identify underlying elements associated with mental distractions imposed by social media usage, including positive and unwanted messages, branding pressures, and competitor content, and subsequently, develop a personalized social media education program (Hayes et al, 2020 ). For instance, interventions may include: switching off and handing over the control of social media accounts, engage athletes through self-awareness and challenging their distractions, use social media to monitor the mood and psychological state of athletes across the current crisis (Hayes et al, 2020 ).…”

The Formation of Anti-Victim Personality in the Context of Sports

“…The research works of the problem provide the description of the techniques used by the successful athletes to avoid the occurrence of affective complexes and their impact on the behavior. One way to prevent complexes is to refuse to read the sports press (Hayes et al, 2020). Another way, used to reduce the negative impact of the defeat factor on the athlete's personality, was to develop a psychological attitude in relation to sports events, i.e., a medium between the treating sport as a game and as a war.…”

Guest editorial

“…Relationship marketing with customers and fans using social media platforms (Abeza et al , 2019; Achen, 2019) and success factors of marketing communication via social media (Billings et al , 2019; Courthouts et al , 2019; Laurell and Söderman, 2018; Teo et al , 2019) were examined. Social media research addressing brand management mainly investigated how sports organizations and athletes build their brands and develop their brand images using social media (Anagnostopoulos et al , 2018; Grimmer and Clavio, 2019; Hayes et al , 2020; Hayes and Blaszka, 2018; Na et al , 2020; Srivardhana, 2019; Thompson et al , 2018). Social media research has also explored platform activity to analyze and control ticket prices in secondary markets (O'Hallarn et al , 2018b).…”