Abstract
The rapid development of social media has led to its increased use by children and adolescents for health and well-being purposes. Accordingly, social interactions resulting from social media use can be further integrated into physical and health education pedagogy. Given the relationship between increased physical literacy and positive health outcomes, best practices and lessons learned from social media use in the healthcare industry should be adopted by health and physical educators practicing in schools. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to comment on several practical and ethical challenges and opportunities associated with using social media to improve physical literacy among youth. Specifically, two of the most prominent issues are discussed in depth: (1) integration of social media in physical education settings that educate children and adolescents about the biopsychosocial effects of physical activity, and (2) use of wearable technologies among youth to accrue experiences that enhance physical literacy competencies. In our opinion, health and physical educators who utilize the ALL-ENGAGE Playbook described in this commentary will successfully reach, engage, and impact students with popular social media that adequately promotes physical literacy, including through experiential use of wearable technologies.
Highlights
The rapid development of social media has led to its increased use by children and adolescents for health and well-being purposes [1]
While social media may become the way of the future for conveying and disseminating physical education to youth, its use is largely unregulated, with limited oversight provided by trained professionals
As social media becomes more integrated into school-based physical education, teachers will likely play an important role in monitoring information that is being shared
Summary
The rapid development of social media has led to its increased use by children and adolescents for health and well-being purposes [1]. One approach used to overcome current barriers is increasing the scalability of VPE courses and online resources [22] Programs such as VPE show promise in enhancing physical literacy among youth who are vulnerable to health disparities resulting from a lack of physical activity [13]. Given the relationship between increased physical literacy and positive health and academic outcomes [15,16,24], it stands to reason that best practices and lessons learned from social media use in the healthcare industry be adopted by health and physical educators practicing in schools. We introduce and suggest the use of the ALL-ENGAGE Playbook for school administrators and physical educators to consider when integrating social media and technology as pedagogical tools
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