Young People’s Perspectives on and Experiences of Health-Related Social Media, Apps, and Wearable Health Devices
1
School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
2
PVC-Education, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Soc. Sci. 2018, 7(8), 137; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7080137
Received: 9 July 2018 / Revised: 2 August 2018 / Accepted: 2 August 2018 / Published: 13 August 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pedagogies of Health: The Role of Technology)
It has been reported from numerous international and socio-economic contexts that young people are becoming increasingly interested in and/or using social media, apps, and wearable devices for their health. Yet, there are few robust empirical accounts on the types of health-related information young people find, select, and use, the reasons for their choices, and how young people use these technologies in a way that influences their health-related knowledge and behaviors. This paper synthesizes findings from three separate projects that investigated over 1600 young people’s (age 13–19) perspectives on and experiences of health-related social media, apps, and wearable health devices. The findings show that young people are both critical and vulnerable users and generators of digital health technologies. Many young people experience a range of positive benefits for their physical activity, diet/nutritional, and body image related behaviors. Yet there are a number of risks, and young people report on the power of digital health technologies to shape, influence, and change their health-related behaviors. The paper concludes by providing new and evidence-based direction and guidance on how relevant adults (including teachers, parents/guardians, health professionals/practitioners, policy-makers, and researchers) can better understand and support young people’s engagement with digital health technologies.
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Keywords:
physical activity; diet; nutrition; body image; pedagogy; adolescents
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Goodyear, V.A.; Armour, K.M. Young People’s Perspectives on and Experiences of Health-Related Social Media, Apps, and Wearable Health Devices. Soc. Sci. 2018, 7, 137.
AMA Style
Goodyear VA, Armour KM. Young People’s Perspectives on and Experiences of Health-Related Social Media, Apps, and Wearable Health Devices. Social Sciences. 2018; 7(8):137.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGoodyear, Victoria A.; Armour, Kathleen M. 2018. "Young People’s Perspectives on and Experiences of Health-Related Social Media, Apps, and Wearable Health Devices" Soc. Sci. 7, no. 8: 137.
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