Abstract
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.
Highlights
There is a critical mass of international evidence reporting on the growing rates of access, use and adoption of smartphones, mobile applications (“apps”), social media, and wearable devices by young people (Anderson and Jiang 2018; Swist et al 2015; Wartella et al 2016)
Despite the breadth of information and devices available (Millington 2017), we know very little about how social media, apps, and wearable health devices support or hinder young people’s physical activity, diet/nutrition, and body image behaviors (Hausmann et al 2017; Holmberg et al 2016)
This paper reports on young people’s perspectives and experiences of engaging with and using health-related social media, apps, and wearable devices, and how young people perceive that these technologies influence their knowledge and behaviors in the areas of physical activity, diet/nutrition, and body image
Summary
There is a critical mass of international evidence reporting on the growing rates of access, use and adoption of smartphones, mobile applications (“apps”), social media, and wearable devices by young people (Anderson and Jiang 2018; Swist et al 2015; Wartella et al 2016). There is little guidance from research or policy, across international contexts (Shaw et al 2015; Third et al 2017) This means that many young people may be unnecessarily exposed to risks, and there is little understanding of how social media, apps, and wearable devices can be used as positive health promotion tools. This paper reports on young people’s perspectives and experiences of engaging with and using health-related social media, apps, and wearable devices, and how young people perceive that these technologies influence their knowledge and behaviors in the areas of physical activity, diet/nutrition, and body image. New guidance and direction for research, policy, and practice are provided that explain how relevant adults (including teachers, parents/guardians, health professionals/practitioners, policy-makers, and researchers) can better understand, engage with, and support young people’s uses of digital health technologies
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