Social Media is Ruining the Passion of Athletes
Maggie Buhle, Sydney Radke, Tony Howard, Alex Sekyere
“Sometimes when I am scrolling and I see people talking bad about me or my team it can affect me because I can be down and hurt my feelings a little bit” — Jackson (College Baseball Player)
“Makes you feel undervalued; there are so many times where you’re putting up the same number and stats as these other kids but they get the spotlight” — TJ (College Baseball Player)
“It opens doors for comparison to other people, scholars, and athletes and social media can easily normalize the idea that if you’re not the best then you’re not worth doing what you do” — Brendan (College Volleyball Player)
These are all examples of student-athletes who have expressed the negatives that come with being in their position. Social media and how it specifically affects the mental health of athletes is super understudied which is why we are bringing light to something that is not talked about often.
This video on Local 3 News gives us a good representation of how certain aspects of social media can take a toll on a person. Whenever any athlete posts on social media, it is out there for the world to see, and for the world to criticize, which is often the times that there is a 50/50 shot for it to be positive or negative.
Whether you’ve been playing a sport for years and now do it for your profession, or you are a student working towards those goals, social media can add stress and negativity to your life.
How is Social Media Affecting our Student-Athletes?
Social media can play both a positive and negative role in our student-athlete's lives. On one hand, they can put themselves out there to be noticed to hopefully further their career in a sport they love, however, it can also cause a lot of stress. Social media puts pressure on who they are as an athlete but also opens them up to comparing themselves to other people.
Even though social media can bring people together and create great connections, it can also cause a divide between people and teams if everyone does not get along. Our podcast below explains how social media can be hurtful to the team as a whole and how it can be negative to a person's body image rather than a supportive platform, and the hate comments that follow that.
As seen above, we know how social media can affect student-athletes, but have you ever wondered how people on the outside view social media for athletes? We went around the College of Dupage campus to ask students their opinion on this topic and since this is so unknown to people, they will first say that it affects the athletes positively, but with further thought will always end up saying that it is negative.
Although the meme below is meant to result in some laughs, it is a good representation of how social media isn’t always viewed as a good thing in the athletes’ eyes. Social media can drain athletes because of how much they are encouraged to be on social media for credibility and for good press that sometimes “throwing away” the idea of social media sounds like the best option.
How Does Social Media Affect Performance?
Social media allows people outside of your team to see the work you’ve been putting in and how you are a part of your team. However, this allows for a critique of how you’ve been playing and the mistakes you make. Fan bases allow for a lot of connections between the athletes and the fans but sometimes they can be the ones that bring you down the most. Psychreg explains this the best by saying that they can bring you up as athletes but trolling can also destroy the public image.
The comments on social media whether positive or negative can impact the performance of an athlete drastically. Negative comments can make an athlete perform worse for the comments can get in their head and distract them from playing their best and enjoying the sport they love. This infographic explains the 5 ways that social media can affect the performance of an athlete.
Below you can see the results of a Twitter poll asking if social media does affect the performance of student-athletes and although the majority said yes, there were still a few that were unsure. This can show that this topic has not been fully brought to light and that there are still a lot of things that people don’t know when it comes to the effect of social media.
Alex Sekyere put out a tweet on his account (@ImBigAlex) asking if social media affects athletes in a negative way and as seen below you can see that 94% of people think that yes it does. This goes to show that people who necessarily aren’t athletes can see that social media is not always beneficial to athletes mentally. Social media does a lot for athletes when it comes to good press and getting noticed, but the psychological state of things is not benefited by social media.
For more information on our topic please visit the Wakelet below.
https://wakelet.com/wake/58leMIlfjisKdAd27ZrL0
Athletes nowadays aren’t necessarily the ones to come out and ask for help even if they do need it. In our generation athletes are seen as people who are unstoppable with an immense amount of followers but at the end of the day, they are people too, they have emotions just like us. If you know someone who needs help, please call the number below and use our #amh to get the word out!
