Abstract
Health authorities recommend digital tools for home-based sport and exercise routines to stay active and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study investigates the prevalence, duration, most popular activities, and social selectivity of home-based digital sport and its contribution to overall levels of sporting activity during the pandemic. It is based on cross-sectional survey data (n = 1508), representing the population >14 years living in Germany. Data collection took place in October 2020, using computer-assisted web interviewing. Results show that overall, 23% of respondents used digital media for sports activities at least one time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Numbers increased during the lockdown and decreased afterwards. People engaged in a variety of fitness workouts, most frequently practiced with the help of publicly accessible fitness videos from video-sharing platforms. Digital sports practitioners are younger, better educated, and financially better off. Females are overrepresented. Individuals engaged in digital sports achieved 30 min/week more sports activity during the pandemic compared to individuals solely involved in offline sports. Hence, home-based digital sports activities were a popular means to stay active, particularly in the period of the lockdown. Strong social disparities indicate that the possible health benefits of digital sports only reach out to particular population groups.
Highlights
Accepted: 17 April 2021Digital technologies have transformed social life in profound ways during the last decade, not omitting sports activities and health behaviors
This paper has shown that digital media play an important role for sports activities during the COVID-19 pandemic
Findings suggest that digital sport was used as a workaround during the lockdown and many users switched back to traditional offline sports activities as soon as restrictions were suspended
Summary
Accepted: 17 April 2021Digital technologies have transformed social life in profound ways during the last decade, not omitting sports activities and health behaviors. Online fitness clubs and influencers enable their followers and members to engage in fitness activities nearly anywhere and anytime, while social media platforms showcase lifestyle sports and fitness trends and distribute health- and fitness-related messages [4]. Others assess the contribution of these technologies for physical activity levels [13,14,15] or explore gender and age differences in the usage of fitness apps [16]. Qualitative studies explored how users of apps and wearables engage with respective data, e.g., for self-surveillance and self-presentation purposes, or for reassuring themselves as productive and active agents for health and wellbeing [17,18,19]. Despite the fact that a large group of individuals still plays sport and exercises solely offline, the ‘digital age’ and processes of mediatization have clearly left their mark in the sport and fitness sector [20,21]
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