“If It's not on Strava it Didn’t Happen”: Perceived Psychosocial Implications of Strava use in Collegiate Club Runners

Abstract

The fitness app Strava incorporates the utility of a fitness tracker with the connection of social media. Since 2009, Strava has attracted over 100 million users, yet little research has assessed the implications of its use. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceived psychosocial implications of Strava use among collegiate club runners. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 runners from collegiate running clubs across the United States who were Strava users. Results indicated that runners perceived the psychosocial implications of Strava use to fall into three main themes: 1) self-presentation, 2) social pressure, and 3) motivation. The findings of this study support the utility of Strava to connect collegiate club runners and support their motivation to run while also suggesting some potential concerns related to social pressure and self-presentation that could influence mental or physical health.

Social interaction, support preferences, and the use of wearable health trackers

“…This may speak to a tension in how WHT are perceived; if users do not feel like the tracker can hold them accountable in the same way a person could, they may seek out alternative means of support to gratify their needs (UGT). Social comparison also positively predicted weekly WHT use, in line with research from Kim (2022) and Russell et al (2023). In this case, when participants experienced greater frustration that other users were outperforming them, they were more likely to increase the use of their WHT.…”

“…The need to consider potentially negative outcomes from social comparison however are important. Social comparison can have negative effects on body image and mental health (Scheid and Lupien, 2021;Zimbars, 2021;Russell et al, 2023). While research generally views the desire to engage in more exercise as a good thing, Russell et al (2023) note that social comparison may encourage exercise to the detriment of individuals.…”

“…Social comparison can have negative effects on body image and mental health (Scheid and Lupien, 2021;Zimbars, 2021;Russell et al, 2023). While research generally views the desire to engage in more exercise as a good thing, Russell et al (2023) note that social comparison may encourage exercise to the detriment of individuals. For instance, one participant shared that an injured friend had to delete the Strava app because it made her want to run but she knew she shouldn't risk hurting herself more (Russell et al, 2023).…”

“…Further, past work has identified concerns related to WHT use in terms of mental health and body image (Scheid and Lupien, 2021;Zimbars, 2021). While Russell et al (2023) did find that participants who used the running app Strava considered social comparison as a motivator to use the app more, participants also expressed concern about the negative impacts from comparison, including greater feelings of anxiety and sadness. At the same time, in their study of observing exercise behaviors on social media and attitude toward exercise, Burke and Rains (2019) found that upward social comparison increased one's positive attitude toward exercise.…”

“…Huang et al (2022) also noted that users who followed more friends on WeRun engaged in more fitness behaviors, suggesting that connections made within WHT may influence use and engagement. Finally, there is also potential value in having followers who, even without regular interaction, can help to hold a device user accountable by virtue of the connection existing (Tikkanen and Barnhouse, 2017;Russell et al, 2023). Knowing this, we posed the following research question: RQ1: How do the number of connections maintained through wearable health trackers relate to (a) reported weekly use and (b) behavioral intention toward use?…”