I could rattle on and on about the downsides of social media. The phone-addicted residents in my building body-checking me as they exit the elevator (it’s hard to see where you’re going with your nose in your phone) is a particular pet peeve of mine. When it comes to health and fitness, influencers, well-intentioned or not, can have a negative influence on perceptions of health and what is attainable as well.
But social media can have some positive effects. In fact, research shows that it might actually be helpful in promoting what I consider to be the most powerful form of motivation out there.
Let’s start out with a premise that most are all too familiar with: Staying consistent with exercise is challenging.
As fitness director at a holistic weight-loss company, a big part of my job is helping people navigate the challenges of exercise adherence. In my practice, and also in my book, I talk about how integrating exercise into your self-concept is important to ensure consistency.
This idea of self-concept is also called identity, or your self-categorization into a particular role. Identity is essentially the gold standard for motivation. That's because people who categorize themselves as exercisers are not only consistent, but they are consistent in the face of barriers and life disruptions. In fact, identity is even more important than habit because habits are subject to break when disruptions happen.
Theories of exercise identity propose that investment, commitment, and self-referential statements ("I am an exerciser"), skill development, and social support are mechanisms through which identity can be developed.
While engaging in a one-time bout of exercise can be fast, identity development is slow. It takes a while to demonstrate commitment and skill development. But there may be a way to use social media to fast track identity development. That's because another possible mechanism of identity development is self-expression. In a 2021 paper authored by one of my colleagues, Ryan Rhodes, researchers analyzed 12 months of Instagram data alongside questionnaires that assessed current physical activity levels and exercise identity. They examined the percentage of posts related to exercise, the number of verified fitness accounts participants followed, and the likes they received for each post.
The researchers found that the percentage of exercise-related Instagram posts and fitness-related followings were significantly associated with exercise identity. The number of likes participants received was not related to identity, which in my mind is an excellent finding because it is the only metric that cannot be controlled by the user.
They also found that for every one unit increase in exercise identity participants engaged in an additional 34 minutes of physical activity per week.
What Should You Do?
Some of our most enthusiastic members post their workouts on social media. They are consistent and demonstrate to the world that they are exercisers. Their documentation of their fitness journey typically starts not only as a way to hold themselves accountable but to also motivate others.
I understand that posting on social media, particularly posting exercises, can seem daunting. But the first thing I would recommend is to think about the positive impact your change may have on your social network—on the people you care about. If you post, others may be more likely to pick up exercise simply based on social prompts. The photo or video does not even need to show you exercising. You can post pictures of the gym you go to, a screenshot of your routines, or of nature walks (hopefully with your dog. Please take pictures of your dog.).
Another low-hanging fruit is to simply share a story of what you are doing for exercise.
Staying consistent with exercise is challenging but not impossible. There are a number of tools you can use to help; social media may just be one that helps develop identity formation.
While there are certainly other routes to identity development, they are slow. Posting is fast, which is one reason to share your exercise experiences on social media. (That is, of course, unless you live in my building and plan on bumping me in the shoulder as you scroll through your photos of you in the gym...)