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The study aims to put the social network TikTok into the context of the marketing attractiveness and potential of soccer players in terms of communication range through social networks. Soccer clubs can assess the expenses of gaining additional followers through a purchased player by an evaluation of the market efficiency of individual soccer players’ followers. The study also documents positive effects ensuing from the acquisition of further followers thanks to the purchase of such a player including image, connection with fans, global reach, additional external funds through sponsorship and the sale of television rights, loyal fans and other so-called “extra-football qualities”. The study thus brings new perspectives on TikTok, as a network which has so far not been thoroughly researched, in the field of the most popular sport in the world, soccer.

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Department of Teacher Education and Art, Nord University, Levanger, Norway

The average age of elite women footballers in Norway is 22.7 years, significantly lower than that of elite male footballers in Norway (26.5). This study examines the factors leading to elite female footballers ending their careers at a relatively young age, and those factors influencing other female elite players to continue. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five female elite players who had ended their career at the age of 19-24, and four who were still active (age 26-31). Based on the age of the informants who had ended their career and the informants who were still active, this study defines "young age" as <25years of age. The female elite players experiences were analyzed and discussed in relation to earlier research. The results of the study show that the same factors affecting the early end of a career, also had an impact on continuing the career in the Norwegian top league, beyond the average age. A low level of internal and external motivation, poor financial circumstances, high stress load, long injury breaks, lack of playing time and other priorities, are all factors leading elite players to end their football careers at a young age. These factors are increasingly being addressed in relation to still active elite players, and this has an impact on the length of their playing career. Like earlier research, this study indicates that the emergence of Norwegian women's football in recent years has helped to improve conditions for being female elite players in the professional leagues in Norway.

Introduction

In 1976, women's football was officially approved as a formal sport by the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF), and for the first time women in Norway got their own official leagues and tournaments. In the years that followed interest spread among girls and women of all ages throughout the country ( Goksøyr and Olstad, 2002). By 2019 there were 113,000 active girl and women football players in Norway, and NFF was actively working to promote girls' and women's football, and it has made it a priority area also for 2020-2023 ( NFF, 2021).

In 2019, the NFF expressed concern about the low average age of players in the women's Norwegian top league. According to Tinghefte (the report from NFF's annual assembly) in 2019, players in Toppserien (the Norwegian top league of women's football in Norway) had an average age of 22.7 years. This low average age was clarified further by UEFA's (Union of European Football Associations) survey, showing that Norway has a smaller number of active adult players than many other countries in UEFA ( NFF, 2021). It is reasonable to argue that there could be an association between the small number of active female players, and the low average age of female elite players, because of early drop out. In comparison, a cross-sectional survey from 2019 showed that the average age of male players in Eliteserien (the Norwegian top league of men's football in Norway) was 26.5 years, which means that men had a significantly longer career than women. The difference at almost 4 years between men and woman dropping out of elite football, is a source of concern according to the relatively few years players participate at the top level. On the basis of these findings, the leadership of NFF is concerned that the low average age may impact Norway's competitiveness in international women's football ( NFF, 2021). This concern is supported by the study of Barreira (2016): "Age of Peak Performance of Elite Women's Soccer Players", where the result showed that national teams with higher average age on their players, performed better in the London 2012 Olympic Games, than the teams with lower average age.

The theoretical framework for this study lies within hegemonic masculinity ( Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005). Kaelberer (2019) argue that football represents a social sphere for the expression of hegemonic masculinity, and suggest that football continues to be described as one of the last male preserves, in which men can act out their masculinity. In this sense, football offers a space for the performance of hegemonic masculinity. Hegemonic masculinity is a relational concept that is produced as the dominant concept that legitimates inequitable hierarchical relations between men and women ( Drummond, 2003; Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005; Tucker and Govender, 2017. The universal characteristics of hegemonic masculinities are related to strength, speed, muscularity, and competitiveness as being produced as dominant-characteristics that are central in football, and giving men more acknowledgment and better conditions for staying in elite level football. Female elite players players on the other hand, get poorer conditions for doing elite sport in relation to lack of financial security-leading female to prioritize education and work outside elite football play. Studies have shown that this stress may lead to drop out among female elite players ( McCormack, 2011; Gammelsæter and Solenes, 2013; Brandt-Hansen and Ottesen, 2017; Grygorowicz et al., 2019; Wang, 2019; McGreary et al., 2021). As researchers, we position ourselves within a position that promote gender equality and diversity ( Drummond, 2003; Paechter, 2019), argue that there is a need to challenge the hegemonic nature of masculinized PA in every arena-also in football. According to ( Paechter, 2019) understanding the gender regime of any setting gives insight into power relations about how specific groups-such as female elite football players, place and position themselves.

A few earlier studies have addressed the factors affecting the career of female elite players. Brandt-Hansen et al. (2014), in their study of Danish women footballers, found that lack of motivation, injury and shortage of time were the three principal reasons for dropping out of elite football. Likewise, lack of motivation was seen by current elite players as the most likely reason for their dropping out in the future, while the opportunity to constantly improve, the joy of performing, and finding football fun and pleasurable were given as reasons for carrying on playing. External motivation, according to Gagné and Deci (2005), refers to behavior driven by the wish to achieve rewards or avoid punishment, while internal motivation arises when behavior and participation are governed by joy, interest, or excitement relating to the activity itself. Both internal and external motivation can be presumed to play a part in the ending or continuance of playing elite football. In a survey conducted by NRK in collaboration with SVT and YLE, large financial differences between male and female elite players were revealed ( Lie, 2017). The figures show that a man on the national football team earns an average of 640,000 Euro more a year than a woman on the national football team. Of 13 factors potentially playing a part in motivation to play at an elite level, "money and other material benefits" showed itself to have least significance for elite players ( Brandt-Hansen et al., 2014). In addition, "making money from the sport" came out last when asked what goals and ambitions they had with football. According to Brandt-Hansen et al. (2014), this is not unexpected as the possibility of earning money and living as a full-time professional is limited in Danish women's football. Brandt-Hansen and Ottesen (2017), confirmed this in a later study, in that of the 102 elite female footballers who participated in their study, only 2% had a full professional contract. The remainder were dependent on income from outside work, study grants or help from their family. Given that only a small minority had a full-time contract, Brandt-Hansen and Ottesen (2017) suggest that women's football in Denmark is seen as an amateur elite sport, lacking opportunities to pursue it full-time. In the same study, Brandt-Hansen and Ottesen found that lack of time and inadequacy of financial resources were given as factors among women footballers ending their careers.

Both Wang (2019) and Grygorowicz et al. (2019) argue that the overall stress burden on female footballers is unsustainable, emphasizing the importance of freeing up time so that players have the opportunity to train and get sufficient rest, while being able to maintain a social life outside football. In a study by McGreary et al. (2021), elite female players found it challenging to balance education, work and football, as well as having a social life. The studies of McCormack (2011); Gammelsæter and Solenes (2013) and Brandt-Hansen and Ottesen (2017) each describe the importance of education for female football players. Although sport is an unpredictable career for all involved, elite male footballers are better able to secure themselves financially via their career, whilst female players will have little to fall back on. Brandt-Hansen and Ottesen (2017), found, in their study, that another significant factor in ending a football career was the desire to establish a family and to have children, whilst Grygorowicz et al. (2019), found that injuries were a reason for drop out among female players. Sandon et al. (2015) found that women footballers carry a greater risk of cruciate ligament injuries, and that these occur at a younger age in women than in men. The study also found that fewer women than men return to football after such injuries.

In Brandt-Hansen et al.'s (2014) study, the results showed that there was a significant difference between Danish elite players who had played for the national team, and those who had not, in the extent to which they felt trusted and supported by their coach and club. Those elite players who had experience in none of the under-16, 18, and 21 national teams nor the senior team, felt, to a greater degree, that a lack of support from coach and club was a factor stopping them for playing at elite level ( Brandt-Hansen et al., 2014). Johansen (2016) also found that players who had most playing time and were regularly in the starting eleven, were happy with their coach, whilst those who often served as reserves were less so. Furthermore, women more than men thought it was important that the trainer offered them recognition, and that they felt seen.

Despite some research in this field, this earlier research suggests that the factors leading elite female football players to end or to continue their careers has been an understudied field, both in Norway and internationally. Few studies have investigated the early ending of the careers of elite female footballers.

Despite some research at this field, previous researches suggests that the factors that lead to female elite players in football quitting or continuing their careers, have not been further studied, neither in Norway or internationally. Few studies have examined the early drop out of the career of female elite football players. Based on statistics on participation in various sports federations in Norway, the Norwegian Football Federation is at the top for both men and women in terms of the number of active members. Football is the sport in Norway that most Norwegians participate regardless of gender, but at the same time a sport where you experience large and visible differences between the genders. In addition, the statistics show that the difference between the average age in elite football among men and women has a difference of 3.8 years. Women stay behind here as well, just as they stay behind in the development of elite football. Historically, women's football has not lasted as long as men's football. As mentioned earlier, it was not until 1976 that women's football was recognized as a formal sport in Norway. Men's football has a history that stretches much further back in time, and this is reflected in the dominance of men's football in Norway, as in the rest of the world. As several of the presented studies has described - the conditions for female elite players have not been good enough for woman to fully invest in a football career.

The research question of this study is: Which factors lead to elite women footballers in Norway ending their career at a young age, and which factors influence those who decide to continue playing?

Methods

Design

The study has a qualitative design using interviews and a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach to shed light on the research question ( Tjora, 2017), by exploring elite female players' opinions, attitudes and experiences regarding the factors that made them end or continue their football career. The research project has been approved by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD), and all participants gave their signed informed consent.

Participants

The participants were recruited via a strategic selection based on their characteristics and qualifications corresponding to the research question ( Thagaard, 2013). A criterion for participation was that the female players had played at least 20 games in the Norwegian top league. The website of the Norwegian Football federation ( NFF, 2021), together with that of altomfotball ( altomfotball, 2021), were used to identify them. Information about the research project and the question of participation was sent to the manager of clubs in the Norwegian top league. They sent the information further to the individual players. In all, nine players made contact, willing to participate in the study. The selection consisted of five players who had recently ended their elite football career at an age between 19 and 24 (Mean = 21, SD = 2.3), and foue players aged 26-31 who continued to play during the 2020/2021 season (Mean = 27.8, SD = 1). There are no standards for early drop out or long participation in elite football, but the cut offs seemed reasonable according to average age among female and male elite football players. These players represented different clubs in the Norwegian top league, and had played for one or more of the following clubs: Klepp, Røa, Stabæk, Kattem, Sandviken, Arna-Bjørnar, Grand Bodø, Fart, Medkila, Amazon Grimstad, Kolbotn, Vålerenga, Fløya, LSK and Trondheims-Ørn.

Procedures

A semi-structured interview guide with open ended questions was created ( Thagaard, 2013). This included questions such as; "which factor do you feel was of importance to your ending/continuing with elite football?". However, some questions were also created based on the results of previous research. These included questions such as; "what was the importance of education in your ending/continuing with elite football?" and "what was the importance of finances in your ending/continuing with elite football?". To test the interview guide, a pilot interview was conducted with a still active, 25-year-old elite player, playing for a Norwegian top league club. The interview was conducted face-to-face at the home of the informant and took 120 min. The pilot interview indicated that most of the questions seemed relevant. However, because of the long interview, similar-sounding questions were deleted together with leading questions and questions that seemed unlikely to yield answers to the research question. In addition, small changes were made to the order of the questions. The first four interviews were conducted face-to-face at the football clubs of the informants. Because of the Corona situation, three interviews were conducted using the Teams app, and two interviews using the telephone. The interviews lasted between 40 and 190 min, 60 min on average.

Data Analysis

All nine interviews were transcribed out of dialect into standard Norwegian ( bokmål) to ensure anonymity. A phenomenological-hermeneutic approach to the data was used ( Thagaard, 2013). That is, it was desirable to understand phenomena and situations from the point of view of the elite players, through them describing the world around them as they had experienced it ( Thagaard, 2013). According to Thagaard (2013), hermeneutics emphasizes the interpretation of a statement, and then looks for a deeper meaning content than that immediately evident. This was done via a coding process followed by a process of categorization. In the first phase, coding of all the statements made in each interview using the analytic program NVivo 12. These codes then formed the basis for the next step, the categorization of the codes by thematic relatedness, the codes not relevant to the research question being excluded. Categorization helps to structure the meaning from long interview texts, and to make it easier to find common features ( Kvale et al., 2009). On account of the two different groups of informants, the codes were divided under the main categories: "reasons for" and "reasons for continuing career past average age". The codes represented different factors influencing elite players to: end their football career; continue their football career; or to both continue and end their career. The first process resulted in a rough categorization into 28 factors divided between the two groups. In the second analytic process, the 28 factors were used as a starting point to find common features in the data material. The 28 factors were divided into six new main categories in which factors from both groups were included, with 14 factors influencing elite players either to end or to continue their football career ( Table 1).

Table 1. Factors influencing elite players either to end or to continue their elite football career.

Results and Discussion

The analysis revealed six main factors, as presented in Table 1, influencing whether players end or continue with elite football. These will be presented in more detail and further discussed.

Extent of Internal and External Motivation

The analysis shows that motivation is a factor mentioned by all informants, in respect of both career ending and career continuing. Lack of motivation for using time, energy and money on football clearly influences the decision to end the football career. Similar findings are presented in the study by Brandt-Hansen et al. (2014), where lack of motivation was one of the three most important reasons for drop out from the elite level among Danish women players. Whether this concerns internal or external motivation is difficult to ascertain from the interview data, but it seems reasonable to suppose that both play a part in both career ending and career continuance.

The analysis showed little evidence of internal motivational factors among the elite players who ended their football career at a young age. A majority of the elite players described the motivation to play football diminishing throughout their career as they experienced life as an elite player becoming heavier and tougher, and they felt more and more that it came at the cost of other things. In the quote below, Andrea describes lack of internal motivation as a factor that seems to set her apart from those who still play elite league football:

[...] football is, really, not my whole life, even though I love it and like to be part of a team, I have so many other things that make me happy as well. [...] So, I think that, in a way, I've not completely had that inner drive, and that has made me not want to commit 110%. I've gone - like - to see friends and gone to a party because that's how I am. I've gone on a cabin-trip rather than stay at home and get myself ready for a game in a fortnight's time.

Concurring with Andrea's view, Berit also describes the large part that lack of internal motivation played in her decision to end her football career. She felt that motivation for other things was greater than motivation for football. To the question about why she, Berit, had chosen to end her career, she answered:

It was the training really that did it. And having to keep free those regular times outside of working and studying. So, it was really freedom that I wanted to feel, I think - to be able to decide for myself what to do with my evenings and not have to say no to so much.

In contrast to these quotes, elite footballers who continue to play displayed a high level of internal motivation through their eagerness to play, as Frida says:

I actually decided when I was about 12 that I would play for the national team and set myself a goal then to do so. I've always had that eagerness to be able to play football and somehow make that happen.

In addition, elite players described the inherent joy of playing the game itself and the training, as Gina thought, when she described what the main reason is she still plays elite football:

If I will say one thing ... [...] Then joy. I like it so much. I'm a person who plays football and trains and finds joy in it.

This finding is supported by the study of Brandt-Hansen et al. (2014) where joy in the game, the joy of performing for yourself and the possibility of improving oneself, appeared to be the most important motivational factors for female Danish footballers at elite level.

Financial Circumstances and Total Load Level

The analysis showed that financial circumstances were a factor of significant importance, for both career ending and career continuing elite players. Danielle makes clear the issue of lack of wages:

You can't really go through the whole of your 20s and start of your 30s with what is far below the minimum wage in Norway. It demands a lot of motivation and hard work if you are to carry on without a salary you can live on, and at the same time retain the possibility to doing well in studies, and in football as well.

Of the players who had ended their elite football career, most had combined football with work when they were active. In addition, three of the five former elite players had studied whilst they played football. Gjerset et al. (2015) defines total load as the sum of the load from trainings and competitions, as well as other mental and physical strains the athlete is disposed of in an everyday life. In this study, the informants focus on work and studies as other physical strains that have an impact on the total load. Former player Cecilia describes the stress of devoting so much time and energy to work and earning a living.

The help that you might have received that would have made it possible to carry on a bit longer would of course, playing at the top level, have been some kind of financial compensation. Had you been able to cut one thing, that you had to work part time beside playing football and full-time study. [...] Compensation has mostly to do with that, I think that some financial support could have helped many of us. I know that with the friends I have who earn a little bit, that they then can at least earn a little so they can have a somewhat smaller job outside football and just that helps. That they can work 80% instead of 100%. I think that would have helped.

Unlike the elite players who have ended their football career, the players who continued their career have been offered better pay and conditions from the club, as Gina explains:

I understand why so many give up. When I look back, if I had gone up in pay to the level I have now, I would have had to have thought about it too. Because for a long time it didn't really work.

Of the nine elite players who took part in the study, only two lived as full-time professionals. Four received, or had received, a wage from their club but this was not enough to live on without a second job or a study loan from the state. There is much that suggests that our informants were representative of women footballers in Norway. Several, however, made the point that considerable change has occurred during their career. They describe financial developments in recent years associated with the overall development of women's football in Norway. This is supported by Balsvik (2019), pointing to a process of positive change in Norwegian women's football during these years, not least increased sponsorship after 2017. Balsvik describes the positive effect of the commercialization of, and investment in, women's football in Norway during the past few years. On these grounds, there is reason to suggest that those elite players who had ended their football careers in 2016 or earlier, probably did not have the same financial starting point as the still active elite players:

[..] if there could have been just a bit more money or flexibility, I think it would have made things a bit easier, and easier to carry on. I felt very strongly that I simply must work to earn some money because you just didn't earn enough from football. [...] Of course, you had bills needing to be paid, I was terribly aware of that (Jessy).

The analysis suggests that these financial concerns and expectations were not an issue earlier in the player's career but grew with time. When asked what impact finances had had on her football career, Jessy answered:

Not much, but mostly because I gave up when I was 21. So, it didn't have the greatest effect on me. When you're still at school, living at home, get the cost of your kit covered and have four or five thousand a month, that's completely OK. In the USA as well pretty much everything was covered, but when you're studying or doing other things, four or five thousand is nothing. So, it would have affected me had I carried on. But no, when you're 17 or 18 and living at home it doesn't matter much.

Jessy's view was supported in the interviews with the players who were continuing their career. These players currently have an average age of 27.8 and confirmed that with increased age come financial anxieties. This may, therefore, indicate that the need for money, and worries related to finances, often come at an age where you become more independent of your parents and in connection with moving away from home and establishing yourself. This was also the understanding of Brandt-Hansen and Ottesen (2017). Of the 102 elite footballers taking part in their study, the majority were in the age range 26-32 and had a full professional contract. This shows a clear tendency for both the possibility of and need for a full-time contract to increase with age. That 41% of these elite players still lived at home with their parents shows that their need for financial support was not as great as that of elite players living on their own and having greater financial outlay ( Brandt-Hansen and Ottesen, 2017). In her answer, Gina confirms that the need for better financial circumstances increases with age.

It works at a certain age, and it works for a time. As I say, when you're 19,20,21,22, then you can be grateful for the little you have. But then comes a time when you just need more. And if you don't get it, then all that you have got from football that has counted until then, doesn't add up anymore. Other things have their own weight. You want to manage on your own, get yourself a job and cope with daily life without being worried. Because those worries cost a lot of energy. So, I think many have experienced that.

Even though all the elite footballers still playing received either full or partial support from their club, there were several who nonetheless encountered financial difficulties at certain points in their career. Gina expressed her thoughts about, and experience of, these tough times in the following way:

It's a question of whether it works at all. Having to pay for food, petrol, bills without being anxious. Because there were quite a lot of years when I was anxious. There was one time when I just went to pieces, because it was like, "I don't have the means, I don't have any money." I don't like it being like that, it's awful.

Kaelberer (2019) concludes that the interaction of sports associations and clubs, business sponsors and the media, prevents women's football from effectively challenging hegemonic masculinity in German football. This partly because <10% of newspaper coverage or television broadcasting is devoted to women's sport, he argue, and states that to work against hegemonic masculinity requires greater societal and popular support.

However, our findings also show that the interests in female elite football increases, and the financial circumstances among female elite players are getting better. This is in accordance with Kaelberer (2019), who claims that female football players have made some forays into a previously exclusively masculine preserve. He highlight that more people pay attention to female football, and that the earnings for female football players have increased. Furthermore, female football players have started exploring new forms of femininity that include masculine traits such as self-confidence, athleticism and muscularity.

Despite many female elite players in Norway having similar experiences and maybe needing a job or qualification alongside football, it is reasonable to believe that financial developments within women's football in Norway in recent years have affected female elite players' financial circumstances. This development is confirmed by those players who have continued their career when they talk about the comparison between today and earlier, describing, now, a feeling of financial security, either as fully-fledged elite players or with an optimal combination of salary from club and job or study. They point to the introduction of "professional days" as representing a significant improvement. This is an arrangement in which the clubs receive support from Toppfotball kvinner (the League Association for Women's Football) to cover the wages of players having days off work to be able to train earlier in the day, and train more during the day. Frida describes this below:

No, it was when they began to introduce professional days amongst other things. It meant that we could begin to train earlier. And, of course, that we have the stadium, our own pitch, own changing room, somewhere to eat, could wash clothes. Little things like that. If it had been men's football, it would have meant little to them, but it makes such a difference for us. Just being able to wash clothes and get an evening meal once a week. Little things that left us pleased.

Our informants' descriptions of changes in the economic conditions within women's football are in keeping with the findings of the study by Wang (2019). Our findings, however, contrast with those of Brandt-Hansen et al. (2014), who found that neither money or other material benefits had particular significance for the motivation and ambition of elite female Danish footballers. One reason why finances are proving to be more important for the motivation of the elite Norwegian female players in our study may be the increasing prominence of women's football in recent years. It is natural to suppose that the expectations of these players would rise in line with this development, and the possibility of earning money is significantly greater now than when Brandt-Hansen et al. (2014) undertook their data collection. On the other hand, the opportunity for elite female players to earn more money can lead to more expectations and commitment to football. A consequence of this can be less time to study, having an outside employment, or doing other things beside playing elite football. It could therefore become more difficult to get time to take an education and having this as a security after ending the football carrier. For two of the elite players who ended their football careers at a young age, they had other interests and other priorities alongside football. Expectations to prioritize football will naturally be bigger when the players are full-time professionals, than when they are semi-professionals. However, it is not given that all women football players want to be a full-time professional.

According to this finding, we will argue that this development is actually challenging the hegemonic nature of football, which is important according to Kaelberer (2019), and making football an arena for more than the performance of hegemonic masculinity. Although, for many elite women footballers, a job or training in tandem with football will be necessary for them to survive financially. An understanding of female elite players' total burden can be closely linked to the term "dual careers" used to illustrate the demands placed on elite British female players. Like the British players in the study by McGreary et al. (2021), our analysis shows that the Norwegian elite players in this study experienced similar challenges in having dual careers. For those players who had ended their career, financial worries and hence a high level of stress had had an indirect effect on them quitting their football careers. This finding is consistent with Grygorowicz et al. (2019), who found that too little time for training due to the demands of work and study was the commonest reason for the Polish players who participated in the survey giving up their football careers.

Through the analysis, it emerged that the lack of pay in women's elite football created a challenging situation, entailing a lot of work and/or study, and thereby a high total load, including for the elite players who still played at top level. This also emerges from the interview with June, who now gets her income through a professional contract - something she did not have before:

If I compare it. It's only now that I realize how difficult it was. I went to college. Cycled there and was there until three at least and then cycled straight to training with team meetings and a quick hello. So, I got home, ate dinner and went to bed. So, it was very hectic and a high total load. I noticed that I didn't get either enough food or drink and very little rest and recuperation. While now it's almost like I don't quite know what to do with myself during the day, but I at least get time to recover and get enough sleep and feel that my body is more in balance as a result. That's really how it should have been for many more people.

In summary, our findings indicate that a challenging financial situation and high levels of stress factors contributing to the elite players ending their football career. At the same time, these were also factors mentioned by the elite players who still play football when asked about possible reasons why they have considered ending their football career. In a study, Lie (2017) show that men on the national football team earns an average of 640,000 Euro more a year than a woman on the national football team. These differences are also clearly shown in our study, as the majority of the informants lived as semi-professional players and gave the impression that they are not or have not been well paid from the football club they played for.

Serious Injuries Over Time or Not

The analysis showed that a long injury layoff was a factor mentioned in relation to several players who had dropped out. Cecilia, Danielle and Jessy, who had all ended their football career, had suffered severe injuries which would have required long rehabilitation in order to return to full fitness. Each had suffered a different injury, but the common denominator was an uncertainty related to the duration of the injury, whether they would be completely fit afterwards, and the fear that they could injure themselves again. All three had had future plans for their football careers, with Jessy still possibly a member of the national team and Danielle and Cecilia having just changed clubs. Asked whether they would have continued their career had they not been injured, all three answered that they would most likely have played on for some years. Despite all three describing several factors as contributing to their retiring, the injury seemed to be the triggering factor. Jessy experienced that her cruciate ligament snapped for the second time during her football career:

[...] ..and, after that, I trained hard and was ready to play again, but I knew that my motivation had gone down with the second knee injury, and I had no wish to see it happen again. And there was something to do with finances on top of all that as well. As a woman footballer in Norway, it hasn't, in a way, been profitable. And although I'm not alone in that, I've had to work alongside the football the whole time.

This agrees with earlier research into cruciate ligament injuries in footballers. According to Sandon et al. (2015), there is a greater risk of cruciate ligament injury for women than for men. There are also fewer women than men who have returned to football after such an injury. One reason for this may be that male players have a job offering good financial provision, while the majority of female players are semi-professionals without such good conditions ( Gammelsæter and Solenes, 2013). This understanding is emphasized in the interviews with Jessy and Cecilia, who say that the injury, taken together with the financial strain, was the reason they chose to end their football career. The financial strain was not an issue for the third player who chose to end her career, as she was living at home at the time.

All the players still active in elite football said that they have suffered minor injuries during their career but described themselves as fortunate not to have suffered severe injury leading to a long layoff. Of the four still playing football, only Gina said that injury had affected her career. She has struggled with stress injuries and played many games while in a lot of pain. However, she has felt that the team depends on her, and has therefore been favored by the coach despite her injuries. Based on this, it can be argued that none of the elite players who still play football have experience of "time-loss injuries", as they have not been away from training and matches for long periods due to injury ( Fuller et al., 2006).

Concern About the Future and Need for Education

The results show a contrast between players who have ended their career and those who have continued theirs, in terms of anxiety about the future. On the one side, were three out of five elite players who described worries about the future as being a factor contributing to them ending their football career. On the other hand, none of the elite players who have continued their football career conveyed any sense that they thought of concern about the future as a factor that might make them give up.

A summatory finding of the analysis is that all five elite players ended their career whilst engaged in gaining qualifications. They all said that the combination of playing and studying was demanding, and that it influenced their decision to end their career. Several made the point that the motivation to study was greater than that to continue playing football, as Cecilia says:

[...] In my case, I knew that studying was more important than the football, which meant that for me it was not enough to play football and try to rely on that, and work part time somewhere just to get an income. I had always known that I would study and knew what I would do, and that it was more important to me, plain and simple.

What Cecilia said agrees with what players have said in several other studies. McCormack (2011), Gammelsæter and Solenes (2013), and Brandt-Hansen and Ottesen (2017) all emphasize, in their studies, the importance education holds for elite female players. The reason for this is often held to be that the future prospects of female elite players, compared to male elite players, more often involve less accumulated funds and thus a more uncertain financial future. For two of the former elite players in this study, Berit and Danielle, it was precisely expectations of the future that led them to enter into a course of study. After she found it impossible to combine her studies with football-which was a contributory factor in her decision to end her elite playing career-Danielle explained as follows:

As a female footballer, you live in the knowledge that you are engaged in something that, for everyone, or nearly everyone, will not be possible to live on. This was, in a way, the background to my beginning to study. And being a student was a lifestyle not really compatible with being a top sportswoman. If the conditions for being a footballer had been better, then perhaps I would have carried on.

Of the elite players who were still active, three out of four had completed higher education. They had, therefore, succeeded in combining their football career with acquiring qualifications. Presently, only one of them uses her qualification and combines having a job with football. The others live either completely from football or receive an income from a scholarship or loan in connection with their studies.

I don't earn much from football, and I can't really just play football. There are lots who give up for that reason, so therefore I've taken a qualification as well and I'm really happy to have that. [...] So, I think there's loads that needs to happen. It has to be made to work so that income stops being a factor. Now, I'm not scared for the future, in a way, because I have my qualification. I think there are lots who stop playing because it's difficult to study whilst you are playing football, or because they can't manage to combine football with a job (Heidi).

Like Heidi, June and Gina managed to combine football and studying. The grant that came with the course was for her a solution making it possible for her to continue playing football.

Of the four elite players still active, three said, however, that they had considered stopping on one or more occasions. On this topic, they spoke of anxiety about the future, particularly in relation to having sufficient funds to provide for themselves. Frida was the only one who neither had a qualification outside football nor was working toward one. For her, qualifications were not something she thought of as being necessary given the life she was living. One reason for that may be that she had a full professional contract and was therefore not dependent on a grant or loan as Gina was. This chimes with Gammelsæter and Solenes' (2013) argument that fully professional players see themselves more as being employed and are therefore more willing to delay qualification.

Trust From the Coach and Playing Time

Analysis of the interview material indicates that trust from the coach and playing time are related to the motivation to play elite level football. Among the elite players who have ended their career, little playing time had had a negative effect on their motivation, whilst playing time and the trust form the coach that came with it had a positive effect on those players who felt that they were being relied on.

Andrea and Berit described playing time and the coach's trust in them as being central factors in their having lost the motivation to play, which in turn led to them giving up. Both of them were regularly in the squad for both home and away games but started the majority of games on the bench and generally got little playing time. For them to be match fit, they were therefore required to play in second team games, often the day after the first team game. They describe, therefore, a very high level of pressure involving a lot of traveling, which again affected their motivation. Andrea describes the feeling she had when she had little playing time and little belief in her from her coach in the following way:

[...] So, I go there and bash myself on the head on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to be good in training. And then you go there on Saturday and Sunday and think: "OK, now I'll be good when I get on the park." And then you don't get to play, and you become really disappointed and angry, because you have to start all over again the next week. So, you never get that affirmation. When you don't get it in training either, it doesn't help.

In a study by Johansen (2016), female players stressed the need for the coach to see them, and for them to get the recognition they needed to perform in training and during the match. There was also shown to be a connection between the amount of playing time they got and the trust showed by the coach, and their attitude to the coach. These are signs of this in our study as well. The players who had ended their career because of little playing time expressed displeasure with their coach and had clear opinions about how things should have been done differently. Brandt-Hansen et al. (2014) found, in their study, that the factors: "football is fun", "the joy of performing" and "always possible to improve" were the most important motivational factors in Danish footballers playing elite level football. Loss of confidence as a result of little playing time leads to there being little pleasure, progress or performance for players, the result can be that they drop out. Andrea, a former player, elaborates on this:

How much you get to play depends on the coach's belief in you. If the coach trusts you and you do a good enough job, so you get to play. And if you are playing, then you most likely have a lot more fun. You don't become a footballer to sit on the bench. Everyone knows that. That's no fun at all, it's the match that's fun.

What characterizes the elite players who have continued their football career beyond the average age, is that when they were first included in the first team at a Norwegian top league club, they gained the trust of the coach which in turn resulted in a lot of playing time. None of them had had to spend much time since then on the bench for their team, and all have been involved in age-specific national teams or the national first team throughout their footballing career. Based on this group of elite players still playing football having had so much playing time, the trust of their coach and, additionally, a background in national teams, there are many indications that these players have maintained a high elite level and been among the very best. Even though women's football has come a long way in recent years, women footballers are still, by Gammelsæter and Solenes' (2013) definition, categorized as semi-professionals. Only a minority, therefore, live as full-time professionals and, naturally, it is elite players who are seen as being the best. That is, the eye of the needle is narrow and the probability of being among the best small, and thus the uncertainty regarding the future as a female elite player is great. The connection between a national team background and perceived trust and support from the coach is emphasized in the study by Brandt-Hansen et al. (2014). According to their survey, there was a significant difference in perceived support and trust among those who had a national team background, compared with those who had never been in the national team. In the present study, former elite player Andrea expressed a similar view, and implied, indirectly, that coaches often treated those in the national team and those who were not differently. When asked about what difference it would have made to her career had she been in the national team, she answered:

Well then would get the affirmation you need. And I think that all the trainers I've had - a strong word this - adore all those who've been in the national team. As if playing for your country differentiates those who are good from those who aren't.

To Prioritize Football or Not

The analysis shows that what characterized the elite players who had had little playing time in their football career, was that they had more interests which they prioritized over football, in comparison to the active elite players. There are some indications that Danielle and Andrea, who chose to end their elite football career, had interests outside of football that may have made it easier for them to choose to leave elite football. This becomes clear in the interview with Danielle when she was asked what factors influenced her to end her football career.

If I compare myself to others, so I have more outside interests. They don't have them [...] I think that's because I have something to turn to after football, and it's been fine without football. I don't think it would have gone as well if I hadn't had it. I think I'd have struggled more.

Andrea's answer to the same question was almost identical to Danielle's. In contrast to the elite players who had ended their football career, all the players who continued their football career said that football was their first priority, even at the expense of time with friends, parties, social events and other interests. This was clearly expressed by Frida:

Football has always been, has come first. It takes priority. It's clear that sometimes, really, I don't feel it so often, that I should have been at this party or [...] It's clear that I don't get to see my best friend so very often, but no, it's not been that hard. Sometimes it's difficult living away from family and so on, but it's always been fine. It's been easy to prioritise.

The above finding is in agreement with the results of Brandt-Hansen et al. (2014).

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Study

The results are derived from in-depth interviews with five elite players who have ended their football career at a young age, as well as four elite players who have continued their career beyond average age. Taken together, the informants represented a wide range of elite players who have played and are playing in the Norwegian top league, and who have backgrounds and experience from various clubs around Norway. The findings are substantiated to a large extent by previous studies, but also add new knowledge. To be a qualitative study using in-depth interviews, the study includes an acceptable number of participants. Furthermore, that most participants seem to confirm the same main findings, strengthens the credibility and reliability of the study. However, due to the small number of respondents, it is necessary to be cautious about the generalizability of our conclusions. This might require quantitative studies, including statistical analyses. Nonetheless, the findings have a credible general validity on the basis that the participants seem to highlight the same factors as important according to drop out, or continuation, with elite football, and that all people involved in women's football have something to learn from these female players' experiences.

Conclusions

The results of this study indicate that factors leading to elite players ending their football career at a young age are; low level of internal and external motivation, poor financial circumstances leading to high levels of stress, long absence through injury, concerns related to education, lack of playing time, and prioritizing other activities than football. Still active elite players reported higher level of internal and external motivation, better financial circumstances in football-and thereby lower levels of stress, no serious injuries and fewer concerns related to education, lots of trust from the coach and playing time, and also prioritizing football over other activities.

On the basis of the analysis, there emerged a clear distinction between the level of internal and external motivation between the elite players who have ended their football career and those who have continued theirs. External motivation in the form of benefits such as wages and recognition were absent from the career of those elite players who had stopped playing. For the elite players who were still active, expectations of better salary and perceived recognition were motivations to continue their football career. Low internal motivation to return from injury, or to play their way back into the team, were indirect reasons for elite players ending their football career. For the elite players who chose to continue their career, on the other hand, inner motivation in the form of the joy of playing football was emphasized as being absolutely crucial for them in continuing their football career. Another main finding was that long-term injuries and lack of playing time were underlying reasons for elite players ending their career at a young age, and that long injury breaks and lack of playing time seem to lead to the reduced priority of football. On the other hand, freedom from injury and ample playing time appear to give football first priority, and thereby lead to a longer-lasting football career. A key finding in the study seems to be that female elite players today feel that their financial circumstances are improved, in comparison to a few years ago. For those who ended their career, the high level of total load appears to have played a decisive role in their decision. The elite players who were still active, earned better through football, had had fewer injuries, experienced being relied on in terms of playing time, gave football high priority and had a greater degree of internal and external motivation. In sum this constituted a lower total load enabling a greater investment in football, which in turn prolonged their career.

This study is giving new insights in women's football in Norway, that is a minor studied field in both Norway and internationally. Because of few researches on women and football, this study will be important to put the focus on women football and hopefully lead to more studies in this field of research. The study reproduces findings in other studies according to early drop out. New insight in this study shows is that establishing a family and having children not is necessary a reason for early dropout from elite football. None of my informants mentioned this as a factor that influenced the choice of dropping out of elite football at a young age. This study also shows the importance of getting enough playing time, even if it's because of a serious injuries or lack of trust from the coach. All five informants who left elite football at a young age emphasized that it was because of lack of playing time. This article indicates that the framework conditions for female elite players are about to change in step with the development of women's football both in Norway and internationally. Both better finances and less total load are described as better today than it was when the informants started their football careers. They describe an everyday life that is gradually becoming more and more professional and makes it easier to invest in a football career. This qualitative study contributes to a deeper understanding of factors that influence female elite players' football careers. Based on the fact that the study has few informants, the results as previously mentioned cannot be generalized to larger groups. Further research should therefore focus on a quantitative approach that will include a larger sample. In summary, I would argue that future research on women's football is necessary for girls and women to have access to relevant findings that can help improve their conditions in the future and hopefully help their football careers last longer. According to Barreira (2016) the age of the elite players was related to their performance. Getting female elite players to extend their football careers can therefore help to develop even better female football players in the future.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics Statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by The Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD). The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

Author Contributions

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

References

Fuller, C. W., Ekstrand, J., Junge, A., Andersen, T. E., Bahr, R., Dvorak, J., et al. (2006). Consensus statement on injury definitions and data collection procedures in studies of football (soccer) injuries. Scand. J. Med. Sci. Sports 16, 83-92. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0838.2006.00528.x

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Grygorowicz, M., Michałowska, M., Jurga, P., Piontek, T., Jakubowska, H., and Kotwicki, T. (2019). Thirty percent of female footballers terminate their careers due to injury: a retrospective study among polish former players. J. Sport Rehabil. 28, 109-114. doi: 10.1123/jsr.2017-0190

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Sandon, A., Werner, S., and Forssblad, M. (2015). Factors associated with returning to football after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Knee Surg. Sports Traumatol. Arthrosc. 23, 2514-2521. doi: 10.1007/s00167-014-3023-4

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Since its inception in 1996, social media has managed to infiltrate half of the 7.7 billion people in the world. Social network platforms almost tripled their total user base in the last decade, from 970 million in 2010 to the number passing 4.48 billion users in July 2021.

The spectacular year-on-year adoption of new users on the platforms is, however, slowing down. It now relies on the continuous growth in the number of people with internet access and smartphones, particularly in developing regions.

So, how big is social media and how has it evolved today?

In this awesome statistical roundup, you'll discover the latest social network data by the numbers and key demographics, here's a summary of what you'll learn below:

So without further ado, let's dive into the top 12 statistics you cannot miss surrounding one of the fastest adopted technologies in the last century.

Social Media Usage Statistics (Top Picks)

4.48 billion people currently use social media worldwide, up more than double from 2.07 billion in 2015

The average social media user engages with an average of 6.6 various social media platforms

The social media growth rate since 2015 is an average of 12.5% year-over-year. However, growth is on the decline with 2019-2020 data revealing a 9.2% growth rate

By region, social media growth in 2019-2020 is led by Asia: +16.98%, Africa +13.92%, South America +8.00%, North America +6.96%, Europe +4.32%, and Australasia +4.9%

60.99% of the 7.87 billion people in the world use social media, of eligible audiences aged 13+, there is 63% that are active users

93.33% of internet users are on social media; however, a titanic 85% of mobile internet users are active on networks

Facebook is the leading social network at 2.9 billion monthly active users, followed by YouTube (2.3 billion), WhatsApp (2 billion), FB Messenger (1.3 billion), and WeChat (1.2 billion)

72.3% of the total US population actively use social media, totaling a number of 240 million people

In the US, 54% of social media users are female, while the remaining 46% are male, compared with a global average of 45.6% for female, and 54.4% for male.

How many people use social media?

As of 2021, the number of people using social media is over 4.48 billion worldwide, with the average user accessing 6.6 social media platforms on a monthly basis. Popular platforms like Facebook have over 65.86% of their monthly users logging in to use social media daily.

All social networks report growth data on the number of monthly active users or MAU's rather than the number of accounts, as this data is more accurate for measuring actual use and territory penetration.

What percentage of people use social media?

The current percentage of people using social media is 56.8% of the world's total population. However, when we look into platform penetration rates from people in eligible audiences, 93.33% of 4.8 billion global internet users and 85% of 5.27 billion mobile phone users are on social media.
Key Statistics:

4.48 billion people use social media worldwide, according to platform reports on the current number of active users

56.8% of the world's population is active on social media when looking at eligible audiences aged 13+ years, rising to 82% in North America

Out of 7.87 billion people in the world, 56.8% of the population use social networks, regardless of age or internet access

Out of 4.8 billion internet users, 93.33% are active users

Out of 5.27 billion unique mobile phone users, 85% are active users

Out of 4.48 billion social media users, 99% access the websites or apps through a mobile device

How many social media accounts does the average person have?

According to the Global Web Index, the average number of social media accounts a millennial or Gen Z-er has is 8.4 worldwide, up 75% from 4.8 accounts in 2014. The study of 46 countries with internet users aged 16 to 64 shows Japan had the lowest average number of social network accounts at 3.8, comparably India had the highest with 11.5 per person.
Key Statistics:

The average number of social media accounts is 8.4 per person in 2020

The growth in the number of accounts per person is up 75% from 4.8 accounts per person in 2014 to 8.4 in 2020

Firstly, the growth of multi-networking relates to the widening of platform choice. Secondly, it's also down to specialization of individual platforms, e.g., Instagram (photos), YouTube (video), and LinkedIn (work)

5 Highlights for Backlinko's audience:
How many people use social networks for business?

40% of all internet users worldwide use social media for work purposes. In the U.S., only 27% of people actively use social media in their jobs, compared with the highest by country in Indonesia at 65%, or the lowest at 13% in Israel.
5 Highlights for Backlinko's audience:
Social media usage by gender

The current global average gender split of social media users is 54% men versus 46% women. However, in the US, women are the leading user base; 76% of all female internet users have social network accounts compared with 72% of all men.
Which gender uses social media more by region? Which gender uses social media more by platform?
As you can see from the data above, social network usage is different for men and women globally when examining location. Perhaps the most notable gap in gender differences is where we look at the use by the platform.

When looking at the top 8 social platforms by monthly active users, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and TikTok index higher in male users. Sites like Facebook and Instagram are more female orientated, especially Pinterest, which dominates with female audiences.

Global social media growth rates

How much does social networking grow year on year?

In 2021, there are 4.48 billion people actively using social media in the world, and this is an increase of 13.13% year-on-year from 3.69 billion in 2020. Back in 2015, there were only 2.07 billion users - that's an overall increase in users of 115.59% in just six years.
6 Year Social Media Growth Statistics:
Top 10: Growth of social media users by country

According to Keipo's analysis, the country with the most significant social media growth in 2019-2020 was India, with 130 million new users joining platforms - equivalent to 9.6% of their total population. In second place was China (15 m), Indonesia (12 m), Brazil (11 m), Iran (9.4 m), and the USA in 6th place with 6.9 million new users.

Below, we have the top 20 social media growth rankings by country, representing the largest number of users, not percentage increase:

Growth of social media users by region

The total number of people using social media grew by 9.2% between April 2019 and Jan 2020. When looking at the number of people growing by region, Europe had the slowest activation of new active users at 4.9%. Whereas Asia was the most considerable social media user base growth at 16.98%, followed by Africa increasing by 13.92%
Social media growth by region 2019-2020:
Day one: When did social media start?

The rise of social media began back in 1996 with the release of the networking site Bolt (now closed). Shortly after, in 1997, Six Degrees was released where users could add friends and make profiles. Following that, services like AOL Instant Messenger, Live Journal, and Friendster launched all paving the way for the leader, Facebook, in 2004.
Timeline: Early days of social media

1996: The first social networking and video website is Bolt, which was active from 1996-2007

1997: A site called Six Degrees was created where users could upload profile information and connect with users by making 'friends'

1997: AOL launched its Instant Messenger service, who acquired it from an Israeli based company, it was originally called ICQ and launched in 1996

1999: This was the launch of LiveJournal, the first popular blogging platform

2000: Habbo, a game based networking site, was released

2002: Friendster launched, where users made profiles, connected, and share content

2003: LinkedIn launched the first business-orientated social networking site

2004: Facebook, the most popular platform of all time launches

Sources: GlobalWebIndex, Pew Research, Wikipedia, Social media platforms & Kepio's Analysis

Social media penetration by country

Which country has the most active social media users in the world?

Social media penetration = active users vs. total population.

According to Statista's data from 2020, the most active country is the U.A.E., with 99% of its population using social media. The average penetration rate globally is 49%. When isolating the data to eligible users aged 13+, the average social media penetration rate is 63%.
Key Statistics by the total population

On average, 49% of the world are active social media users, regardless of age

On average, 63% of the world's population aged 13+ are active on social media

In which countries can networks look to expand?

Social media has the most substantial opportunity for growth in developing countries, with billions of new users to sign up. Think tank data company Pew Research Center noted a steady increase in internet and smartphone adoption, which significantly relates to the growth of social media in certain developing countries or regions.

In 2014 there was a median of 42% of people that accessed the internet occasionally, now this figure must be well over 65%, which was the last number recorded from the Pew study in 2017. There was a similar story for the adoption of smartphone use also, doubling to almost 42% in the same period.

Advertising revenue will not grow at the same rate

Unfortunately, social networks looking to expand in these territories will make a lot less from the advertising profits per user, so user volume is critical for their earnings.

For example, Facebook reports the average revenue per user would be $41.41 for signing someone up in the US; however, in the Asia-Pacific region, that figure lies at $3.57.

Sources: Statista, Statista, Data Reportal, Social media platforms & Kepio's Analysis

Social media in the US by the numbers

What percentage of Americans are on social media?

According to platform statements, the number of social media users in the US is 240 million in 2020, meaning 72.3% of Americans are actively using sites monthly. The most popular platforms in the United States are YouTube at 81.9% and Facebook at 73.4% among internet users aged 16 to 64.

Number of Americans on social media:

The US social media penetration is calculated by the total number of active social network users versus the total population or those aged 13+.

72.3% of the total US population have social network accounts, regardless of age, totaling a number of 231.47 million people

US social media use by gender:

In America, social media is more prevalent among women, in particular, Snapchat and Pinterest, whereas men are using sites like YouTube and Twitter more.

US social media use by ethnicity:

The percentage of social media use versus the total population by race for the entire US population is:

US social media use by age:

Unsurprisingly, the percentage of Americans using social media by age is primarily Gen Z and Millennials.

Sources: Pew Research, Data Reportal, Brandwatch, Social media platforms & Kepio's Analysis

Social media growth in the US

What is the current growth rate of social media in the US?

70% of the US population has active social media accounts, with a year-on-year growth rate of 3.1% from 2019-2020. An original record of the US market size was 5% in 2005, growth in the US took just under 6 years to penetrate 50% of America's population in 2011.
Key Statistics:

America's social media growth rate between 2020 and 2021 was 4.3%

The total number of users in America has grown by 10 million between 2020 and 2021

US growth of social media users by platform

A selection of surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center 2012-2019 shows the percentage of US adults who state they use the following apps on their phone or desktop.
Key US Network Growth Statistics 2020-2021:
Sources: Statista, Pew Research, OurWorldInData, Data Reportal, eMarketer, Social media platforms & Kepio's Analysis

Most popular social media platforms

What are the most used social media sites?

In 2020, Facebook is the leading social network with people with 2.85 billion of 4.48 billion social media users worldwide. YouTube and WhatsApp follow this with over 2 billion, then Messenger, WeChat, and Instagram, all having 1 billion or more users.

Average time spent on social media

How much time do people spend on social media each day?

In 2020, the average time spent on social media per day is 2 hours 25 minutes globally for users aged 16 to 64 on any device.

In comparison, the time spent on networks by the average person in the US is 2 hours and 7 minutes, 18 minutes less than the global average.

The World Health Organization estimates global life expectancy to be 73 years. If the average person persisted with the same social media usage, they would spend 5.7 years / 2,080 days on platforms in their eligible lifespan.
Key Statistics:

Globally, the average time a person spends on social media a day is 2 hours 25 minutes / 145 minutes

The average person will spend 5.7 years on social media from the age of 16+ to the average life expectancy of 70

The average person will spend 36.5 days a year on platforms from the age of 16+

Out of the 46 countries surveyed, people in the Philippines spend the most daily time networking at 4h 15m

People in Japan spend the least daily time on networking at 51 minutes

Time spent on social media by country

Below, we have the average daily time spent on social media in hours and minutes from 46 countries; the data source is the Global Web Index 2020 report.
5 Highlights for Backlinko's audience:
Daily time on social media growth statistics

Below, we have the growth in time spent on social media in minutes; the data source is from all internet users from 47 countries, aged 16 to 64, and on any device.

How often do Americans use social media sites?

Below we have the frequency of visits Americans have to these popular social media sites, all platforms other than Twitter get at least half of their users visiting the platform every single day.

Social Media Usage by Device

What's the percentage of social media usage on mobile vs. desktop?

In regards to social media usage by device, 99% of people in the world access networks on a mobile device (tablet or phone). Around 78% are solely accessing platforms from their mobile phone, compared with only 1.32% visiting their social networks via only their desktop.

What's the internet's mobile vs. tablet market share?

According to StatCounter, the current mobile vs. desktop market share worldwide is weighted more towards mobile, with 55.89% of people accessing the internet on a feature or smartphone. Only 41.36% of people now access the internet on desktop (leaving 2.74% on tablets).

By comparison, this shows just how "mobile" social media is.
Key Statistics:
Sources: Data Reportal, BankMyCell, Statcounter

Conclusion

There you have it for my rise of social media statistics roundup.

In terms of technology adoption, it's mind-blowing to see how quickly a social network can explode. For example, TikTok was on one in five devices connected to the internet in 24 months.

Now I'd like to hear from you:

What else would you like to see added to this roundup? Or have a question?

Either way, please jump in and leave a comment below.

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How Many People Use Social Media in 2023? (65+ Statistics)

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Explore the ultimate roundup of social media user statistics. Discover social network statistics on growth, country, platform & time spent daily.

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The negative impacts social media has on athletes vs the positive intention

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Social media: a tool for athletes to take control of their image, or a massive distraction? – Sports Psychotherapy Services

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How has social media changed the athlete-fan relationship?

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Media and Digital Transformation in Sport

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The development of social media channels has no doubt enabled fans to be closer to their favourite team, athletes and personalities than ever before. However, just how much has social media changed altered the fan-athlete relationship and what are the positive or negative impacts as a result of this?

The development of social media has led to a number of athletes having accounts across platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram and more recently TikTok, that enable them to communicate with sports fans as well as foster brand awareness and engagement for their commercial opportunities, two key pillars of the brand equity model developed in 1996 by Aaker. Whereas before fans would write letters or pick up the phone they can now reach athletes, who previously were unreachable as a result of geographical location as well as physical access, they can now reach their favourite athletes and personalities through a simple '@' sign followed by their username, as shown here. A recent survey suggested that the vast majority of the 1,557 NFL athletes are on Twitter and regularly interact with each other or other sports as shown below in Tom Brady's tweet about former NBA player Charles Barkley. Whilst some players do not interact with their fans but the majority do and they are able to share content through their accounts and give fans the experience of their personal lives. With the development of Instagram stories often athletes now share short videos that act as updates throughout their day lasting for 24 hours before being automatically deleted as well as information about charity work that they carry out, such as Deshaun Watson who has used Instagram and Twitter to showcase his charity work in his hometown. On the other hand, Twitter enables athletes to converse and communicate with their fans in a more open styled environment. Often players are said to be brought down from their pedestal that fans place them on and are humanised as a result of social media usage.

Whilst the development of social media has enabled fans to get closer to players and feel like insiders there are also some negative aspects of the development of social media. Unlike with the majority of more traditional communication channels Twitter and Instagram accounts do not have the ability to have PR review functions which leave athletes wide open to making statements that fans could be offended by and therefore disagree with. A further negative product of social media is that we remove all vocal and visual cues of what is actually said therefore fans can often misinterpret the context of comments. As a result of this these comments can become a PR nightmare which can negatively impact the opinions fans have of personalities. Furthermore, with easy access to communicating with athletes there has been an increase in athlete abuse after a poor performance. Recently in the Premier League a number of players of a BAME background as well as referees have been on the receiving end of abuse as a result of poor performances on the field. This clearly represents a negative aspect of social media as nobody deserves to be abused let alone in their place of work.

Social media has been brilliant in providing athletes with the chance to showcase their personalities, connect and communicate with fans and also to help pursue opportunities outside of just their sport. Moreover, the chance to build a rapport with fans, present their opinions on matters outside of just their sport as well as show their experiences in their personal lives has helped fans to see that these athletes are more than just robots who play a sport, they are people who have opinions and want to help others achieve more. On one hand, it must be said that in the right hands with good intentions social media is an extremely powerful tool that does more good than bad but on the other hand if social media falls into the wrong hands then the potential consequences are grave. How can we do more to protect athletes, fans and teams in online spaces?

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How has social media changed the athlete-fan relationship?

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The development of social media channels has no doubt enabled fans to be closer to their favourite team, athletes and personalities than ever before. However, just how much has social media changed altered the fan-athlete relationship and what are the positive or negative impacts as a result of this?

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THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE BUSINESS OF SPORT

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Social Media and football fan culture

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Experts couldn't have predicted the acceleration of popularity that social media has had in sports, until now. Glenn Miller is a leading world expert on how sports teams can engage with their fans via using social media as well as being Facebooks Sport and Entertainment executive. He recently stated to IFA's conference of football and social media that in a recent study that of the 1.3 Billion people on Facebook, 500 million are supposed "hard-core football fans".
Glenn Miller football engagement video.

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Experts couldn't have predicted the acceleration of popularity that social media has had in sports, until now. Glenn Miller is a leading world expert on how sports teams can engage with their fans via using social media as well as being Facebooks Sport and Entertainment executive.

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The ECB Social Media, Online Communication and Online Safety

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Government Response to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Report on Immersive and Addictive Technologies

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Data suggests social media has important role to play in raising the profile of women's sports

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Dr Nicole Ferdinand, Senior Lecturer in Events Management at Oxford Brookes University, added: "Perhaps the most important distinction between the two sets of data is the absence of a major social media event this year, which could become a lightning rod for retweets and reactions.

"In the case of the Euro 2020, this came in the form of the online abuse aimed at England's Black players which was met with swift and widespread condemnation. One could perhaps argue that the victory in itself which finally 'brought football home' should have done this, but it did not have that resonance."

Dr Williams and Dr Ferdinand believe the data has highlighted some clear differences that could potentially be studied and perhaps form the basis of a social media strategy which would generate greater levels of online interest in women's sporting events.

They recommend a two-pronged approach of firstly, crafting "off the pitch" stories which affect Twitter users at a primal level so that they trigger reactions and retweets and secondly, deliberately courting the online attention of mainstream media who are critical actors in social media networks.

"Mainstream media involvement is often what causes an online media event to become viral and cross over to become mainstream news", added Dr Ferdinand.

"When this happens the number of social media users tweeting about women's sporting events will dramatically increase which in turn will translate into the volume of social media traffic generated getting to a level which is comparable to what is generated during men's events."

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Data suggests social media has important role to play in raising the profile of women's sports

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Post-match analysis reveals the Lionesses historic victory generated 10 times fewer social media engagements compared to the men's 2021 final

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New research shows British public support athletes speaking out and driving social change

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New research shows British public support athletes speaking out and driving social change

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New research shows British public support athletes speaking out and driving social change

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Risks of passive use of social network sites in youth athletes

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The IP address used for your Internet connection is part of a subnet that has been blocked from access to PubMed Central. Addresses across the entire subnet were used to download content in bulk, in violation of the terms of the PMC Copyright Notice.

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Does the media impact athlete performance?

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Submitted by: Kyle Ott, B.S. & Marieke Van Puymbroeck, Ph.D., CTRS, CRC

"It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory or defeat." -26th President Theodore Roosevelt

Introduction

Many books, articles, and papers have been published relative to the relationship between an athlete's mental state and his or her performance. A point of consensus clearly stated in these sources is that athletic performance efficiency is reduced by distraction. It is believed that distractions interfere with an athlete's ability to focus. Distractions evoke negative mood responses, detrimental arousal and anxiety levels, and stress, thus resulting in the consumption of mental energy. Mental energy is a vital element needed to be able to concentrate one's attention and maintain a positive mental attitude. By concentrating effectively, an athlete can conserve physical energy by maintaining good technique and focus, executing skills properly, and pushing the body through pain and fatigue barriers. Time spent fretting over distractions drains mental energy so that performance suffers (Manktelow, 2006). As Haverstraw (2002) noted, distractions may arise from various sources including: the presence of loved ones you want to impress, family or relationship problems, teammates and other competitors, coaches, underperformance or unexpected high performance, frustration at mistakes, poor refereeing decisions, changes in familiar patterns, unjust criticism, and the media.

The purpose of this paper is to initiate an examination of the influence of the media as a distraction and its impact on athletic performance. For the purposes of this paper it is important to have a common definition and understanding of media, arousal, stress, anxiety, and mood. Media will be defined as individuals who publicly report or make public statements relative to an athlete's performance. In this context, media can be newspaper reporters, paparazzi, television newscasters, or fans and critics who publicize their critiques of athletic performance through the use of public forums and blogs.

In order to differentiate between arousal, anxiety, and stress in this text, specific definitions will be used. Arousal will refer to a state of alertness as the body prepares itself for action. It is associated with increases in physiological and psychological activity, such as heart rate and attention (Landers, 1980). Stress is defined as a state that results from the demands that are placed on the individual which require that person to engage in some coping behavior (Jones, 1990). Anxiety results when one doubts his or her ability to cope with the situation that causes him or her stress (Hardy et al., 1996). Additionally, for this text, mood is defined as a group of persistent feelings associated with evaluative and cognitive states which influence all the future evaluations, feelings, and actions (Amado-Boccara et al., 1993). Now that there is a common understanding of these terms, it is important to understand their relationship to athletic performance.
Arousal and Anxiety
In the field of Sport Psychology, many models have been created to explore arousal and anxiety levels as they relate to athletic performance. Following criticisms of lack of support, popular unidimensional models such as the Inverted U-Theory and the Catastrophe Theory are being replaced with multidimensional-type models (Weinberg, 1990). The Multidimensional Anxiety Theory by Martens et al. (1990), for instance, focuses on the anxiety response that accompanies high levels of stress. It takes into consideration two different elements: cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety. Cognitive anxiety signifies distractions which involve inability to concentrate, disruptions in attention, and negative performance expectations (Martens et al., 1990). Additionally, the somatic anxiety element signifies perceived physiological arousal such as elevated heart rate and increased perspiration (Martens et al., 1990). In general, The Multidimensional Anxiety Theory hypothesizes that as cognitive anxiety increases, athletic performance decreases. Also, it concludes that an inverted-U relationship explains the correlation between somatic anxiety and athletic performance. This inverted-U relationship illustrates that as somatic anxiety increases from low to moderate levels, there is an associated improvement in performance. Performance level decreases, however, once intensity levels either exceed or fall below this moderate range (Davidson & Schwartz, 1976).
Arousal and Stress
In sport competition, athletes must often think fast and make sharp decisions regarding the task at hand. For example, when a basketball player is receiving a pass from a teammate, he or she must complete necessary cognitive functions quickly in order to catch the pass. According to a model created by A.F. Sanders, one entity that may affect one's cognitive functions is arousal level. If the basketball player exhibits a low level of arousal, his or her perception declines. However, the player's perception is sped up with a high level of arousal. When the arousal level is too high, though, perception becomes less efficient. Additionally, Sanders proposes that stress commonly results from one's failed efforts in correcting a level of arousal that is too high or too low. Moreover, high levels of stress accompany increased anxiety (Sanders, 1983).

Sport psychologists, coaches, and others are eager to learn how to tailor athletes to perform at the highest level possible. In their attempts to accomplish this, mood in relationship to performance is being studied. Lane and Terry (2000) created a conceptual model of mood and performance. In this model, the authors focus on mood during pre-competition and its effects on subsequent performance. It is suggested that pre-competitive mood influences athletic behavior. Depressed mood, specifically, acts as a catalyst for reduced vigor, increased anger, confusion, fatigue, and tension, thereby debilitating performance (Mellalieu, 2003). These depressive symptoms involve negative cognitive views individuals have of themselves in relation to their past, present, and future social experiences.

To examine influences on elite athlete performance, Greenleaf et al. (2001) interviewed Olympians from the Atlanta and Nagano Olympic Games. Although positive factors existed, the Olympians cited many negative factors influencing performance. One such factor noted was media distractions. It was found that factors, such as media distraction, are psychological in nature, thus, demonstrating the importance that mental factors play in elite sport performance (Greenleaf et al., 2001).

The theoretical and empirical data regarding arousal, anxiety, stress, and mood will be used to explore the influence media may have on athletic performance. In order to apply this information, it is necessary to first provide the following individual examples where media may have impacted athletic performance.
Media's Influence on Athletic Performance
Many athletes are targets of media prey. Win or lose, their performance and life is publicly dissected by the media. Winning brings about media glorification and expectation, and/or jealousy and criticism. Losing brings forth negative judgment and more criticism. Howard Ferguson (1990) in his book, The Edge, said, "Criticism can be easily avoided by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing. Mediocre people play it safe and avoid criticism at all costs. Champions risk criticism every time they perform." One such athlete who risked media criticism was Miki Ando.

Miki Ando was a two-time Japanese national figure skating champion and 2004 Junior World champion. She also became the first female skater to successfully complete a quadruple jump in competition. Ando is very popular in Japan and receives a lot of attention from gossip magazines and other Japanese media. Ando's athletic performance struggled in 2005 and 2006, and media coverage turned negative. When the Japanese Skating Federation (JSF) selected her to be on its 2006 Olympic woman's figure skating team, the press said she did not deserve to go to Torino. They also frowned on her for wearing mini skirts. The JSF was so concerned media coverage would negatively affect Ando as she prepared for the Olympics, they sent formal written requests to several magazine publishers asking them to cut back on their coverage (NBC, 2006).

The JSF was not the only organization concerned with media impact on their 2006 Olympic athletes. The Canadian Olympic Committee (2006) recognized the potential of the media as a distraction to their athletes as well. In an effort to divert any negative media influence, the Committee publicly announced the following communications objective in their victory management plan: A media training section emphasizing the notion to support athletic performance by removing media as a distraction (Canadian Olympic Committee, 2006).

Were these concerns founded? Some in the Republic of China believe so. After China won the first gold medal in the 2004 Olympic Games and had some major unexpected wins during the first few days of Olympic competition, Chinese newspaper and television stations touted predictions of gold medals their athletes would claim. The predictions, however, did not come to fruition. Athletes the media advertised would take first, such as the Chinese male gymnasts, did not even make it to the award stand. Badminton player Lin Dan was beaten in the first round of competition and Ma Lin, China's top table tennis player, was defeated by 20th-ranked Swede Jan-Ove Waldner (China Daily, 2004).

On August 19, 2004, China Daily blamed the losses on exaggerated hypes of gold made by the media. The editorial claimed the hype caused the athletes to become overconfident and resulted in athletic incompetence. Chinese diver Peng Bo agreed. After his partner's last-minute error cost the men's springboard double gold, Peng Bo said, "We're ordinary people. We feel pressure, and sometimes we can't help having some distracting thoughts. Please understand us" (China Daily, 2004).

At the 2006 Torino Olympics, Ando did not quite meet the gold medal goal coveted by all Olympian athletes. She placed eighth in the Ladies figure skating short program and 15th in the freestyle competition. Canada's athletes, however, exceeded the expectations of many by leaving Torino with a best-ever 24 medals, the third-most of any country (CBC, 2006). Whether or not Ando's less than expected performance was a result of media distraction, or the Canadian athletes' successes were a direct result of media discipline is hard to say, but should be explored further.

Because there have been no empirical examinations on the influence of the media on athletic performance, the following will provide examples of some famous athletes who have been subjected to intense media scrutiny, provide their reaction to the media attention, and present the impact, if any, the media had on their athletic performance.
The Stones that Critics Hurl Kenny Rogers
Baseball player Kenny Rogers has had a volatile relationship with media. During the 2005 season, Rogers refused to talk to media after they published a report saying he would retire if the Rangers did not give him a contract extension. Then on June 29, 2005, while walking onto the field for a pre-game warm-up, he had an altercation with two cameramen. Rogers first shoved Fox Sports Net Southwest photographer David Mammeli, yelling at him to get the cameras out of his face. Next, Rogers charged cameraman Larry Rodriguez, wrestled the camera from him, threw it to the ground, and kicked it.

As a result of the tirade, Rodgers was suspended and fined. Before all of his run-ins with the media, Rogers was having a career best season. However, following the suspension, in his August 11, 2005 return to the mound, Rogers allowed five runs and seven hits in five innings, on the way to a 16 to 5 loss. He also gave up a two-run homer in the all star game where he was booed by the crowd.

This indicates a possible causal relationship between stress and the media influence on Rogers. His adversarial relationship with the press caused him to publicly lose his temper and become violent, which cost him playing time, salary, and the respect of the fans. Moreover, it affected his performance and his season's statistics declined (ESPN, 2006).
Ricky Williams
David Swerdlick's editorial Ricky Williams - Just Let Him Be, discusses how the constant pressure of the media drove collegiate and professional football standout, Ricky Williams, to quit the sport he loved. According to Swerdlick (2005), Ricky Williams suffered with a debilitating social anxiety disorder and extreme shyness. The aggressive media attention was uncomfortable and frightening for him. In his early pro years he dreaded doing interviews so much he wore his helmet and an eye shade inside his face mask.

The article claims that in order to cope with all the unwanted media attention Williams smoked marijuana. As a result, he failed three NFL drug tests and experienced further embarrassing press. Superstar NFLer, Ricky Williams, loved the sport, but couldn't handle the media attention that comes with greatness. Swerlick asserts that the media negatively impacted this athlete. Ricky Williams walked out on the Miami Dolphins; lost millions of dollars; lost the respect of his teammates and fans; and still finds himself as media fodder (Swerdlick, 2005). Many disagree with this conclusion, however, as is indicated on numerous blogs. One such blog critic instead credits Williams's early departure with his overriding desire to smoke marijuana (Sportscolumn.com, 2004).

Iron Mike Tyson's quick rise to the top of professional boxing made him one of the most publicized and admired boxers of all times. His personal turmoil, however, such as being convicted of raping Miss Black America and his volatile escapades such as biting off the ear of opponent, Evander Holyfield, made him one of the most media criticized boxers of all times.

Up until the early 1990s, Tyson, to many boxing enthusiasts, seemed unbeatable. He earned numerous championship titles such as: World Boxing Council (WBC) Heavyweight Title, World Boxing Association (WBA) Heavyweight Title, and International Boxing Federation (IBF) Heavyweight Title. However, as his personal life became mired in legal difficulties, the media had an increased negative focus when reporting about him, and concurrently, Tyson lost all of his previously earned professional boxing titles. His sudden decline in performance may be tied to negative and excessive media attention, effecting his training and mental state. Days prior to a comeback fight, in an interview by writer John Raygoza, Tyson was asked if it bothers him when the media writes negative things about him. He responded, "It's my job to beat people and win fights...and it's their job to sell papers. Everything that could've been said about Mike Tyson has already been said. I don't take it personally like I use to." Here, Tyson admits that the media criticism did impact him but he is beyond that. One has to wonder, though, as Tyson was knocked out in the fourth round of that fight, and his boxing career ended on that night (Raygoza, 2004).
Only the Mentally Strong Survive
The above were examples of athletes whose performance was negatively impacted by media. Tony Dorsett, legendary NFL halfback, said: "You can turn the negative around and use it as a motivating force in your life. One of my biggest desires has always been to prove certain people wrong-to prove to them I can do it despite what they think or say" (Ferguson, 1990).

Like Dorsett, some athletes are able to strive under intense media scrutiny by using it as motivation to achieve success. The following are several reports of athletes who have been able to survive and thrive in spite of the media.
Venus And Serena
In the world of tennis, two standout sisters have received more than their share of negative press. Venus and Serena Williams are not your typical small, cutesy, white, female tennis players. They are black, muscular, and solid. They win with their hard hitting, hard return, power-games. Not only does the media write and talk about them due to them not fitting the stereotypical construct of the usual tennis player, Venus and Serena are also known and criticized for the exotic, colorful, and tight fitting attire they wear on the court.

The two girls grew up in a poor, Los Angeles neighborhood. They could not afford tennis lessons or even tennis balls. Their dad taught them the game from books; they used worn equipment; and they practiced on rundown tennis courts. To illustrate, Venus and Serena's father comments on the environment and conditions his daughters experienced during practices in East Compton Park, California: "It's a radical neighborhood. A lot of dope is sold. We play on two courts - that's all there is -and they look like trash, they're so slippery" (Sports Illustrated, 2006).

Instead of being commended for overcoming disadvantage, Venus and Serena are criticized and negatively portrayed by media. Those in the tennis world and media constantly criticize that Venus and Serena are not skilled athletes...just hard hitting. Through all of the media attention, however, Venus and Serena have proven tremendous mental toughness that has served them well in their progress and maturation. The girls countered the media by rising to the top of their games and raising the bar for all (Loving, 2002).
Colin Montgomerie
Colin Montgomerie, one of Europe's top golf pros, has had his share of ups and downs. Among his many accomplishments are victories at the European Tour Order of Merit every year from 1993 to 1999. During this era, he was consistently ranked in the top 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings, reaching the number two ranking at his peak. Then in 2003 and 2004, he began having personal and performance problems, and his ranking slumped to the eighties. To make matters worse, he became the victim of media and fan abuse. Media publicly questioned his ability, and fans called him names, such as Mrs. Doubtfire, because of his noticeable weight gain.

Initially, the negative media and fan criticism had an impact on him and his performance. According to an article written in Golf Today, not only was he performing really badly in an Open Tournament, he was so upset by media criticism he threatened to pull out of the Scandinavian Masters (Lexus Internet Limited, 2002). Moreover, Martin (2002) reported that because of negative media coverage Montgomerie even considered taking a break from the sport.

Eventually though, Montgomerie overcame the criticism and made a comeback in 2005, where he won another European Tour Order of Merit and returned to the top ten in the World Golf Rankings.
Clinton Portis
Washington Redskins running back, Clinton Portis, during the 2005-2006 season, was known for wearing outrageous costumes and playing odd characters during media interviews. In one such costume, he dressed up as a made-up character named "Sheriff Gonna Getcha". He wore a long, black wig, glasses with oversized eyes, a Led Zeppelin T-shirt, a star-shaped badge, and an unusual necklace. In another interview, he showed up in a black cape, black Lone Ranger mask, clown-style oversized yellow sunglasses, a shaggy black wig, and fake gold teeth. He also created outrageous names for his costumes such as: Dr. I Don't Know, Dolla Bill, Rev Gonna Change, Kid Bro Sweets, and Coach Janky Spanky (Solomon, 2006).

The stand-out athlete started this charade of characters after being traded by the Denver Broncos to the Washington Redskins in 2004. He was uncomfortable on this new team and had trouble scoring touchdowns. To deflect negative press questions he began dressing up in costumes, and had fun with the press. Five of his teammates got in on the act as well. During one interview, they joined Portis by dressing up in crazy get-ups calling themselves "Clinton's" Angels. Many may view these stunts as foolish, however, Portis's tactics proved successful. Instead of negative reporting by the press, the press had fun with the parade of characters and concentrated on this instead of the team's performance. Portis not only started scoring touchdowns, he broke the Redskins' record for the most rushing yards in a season in 2006 and became the third runner in league history to reach 1,500 yards in three of his first four seasons (Solomon, 2006). With media criticism gone, the team went from a losing record to playoff contenders. This is a case where media impact could have contributed to poor performance on the field. Instead, Portis used the media to have fun, loosen up the team, and motivate himself (Solomon, 2006).
Application to Theory
Throughout this paper there have been examples of athletes whose performance was impacted by media. Some let media distraction impact them negatively. Kenny Rogers's ordeal may be explained by Lane and Terry's (2000) conceptual model of mood and performance. In Roger's case, media distraction triggered his increased anger and tension, a result of depressed mood. Lane and Terry's finding that depressed mood is debilitating to performance is evident as Rogers's potentially career best season quickly declined following the media incident. Ricky Williams experienced much stress as he struggled with the constant pressure and media attention. According to The Multidimensional Anxiety Theory, by Marten et al. (1990), the anxiety responses Williams encountered may be due to elevated stress levels. Specifically, Williams's increased cognitive anxiety response, due to disruptions in attention and concentration, led to decreased performance. However, Williams tried to counteract his increased cognitive anxiety with the calming effects of marijuana. In Mike Tyson's situation, The Multidimensional Anxiety Theory and Lane and Terry's conceptual model of mood and performance are essential in explaining the impact media had on Tyson's drastic change in performance. Following the extensive media criticisms relating to many of Tyson's problems and controversial incidents, Tyson's legendary boxing performances rapidly declined. Decreased concentration, a result of increased cognitive anxiety, affected Tyson's training prior to competition. Also, during performance, Tyson experienced somatic anxiety levels above a moderate range, thus decreasing his performance. This is evident from the inverted U-relationship. Furthermore, Tyson's mental state prior to competition, negatively affected his performance. Tyson may have exhibited depressive symptoms which include negative cognitive views individuals take of themselves in relation to their past, present, and future social experiences. If Tyson possessed depressive mood, the effects of increased anger, heightened fatigue, increased confusion, and reduced vigor immensely hindered his performance.

Other athletes, however, used media distraction as inspiration to succeed. Venus and Serena Williams, Colin Montgomerie, and Clinton Portis employed their own coping strategies to deal with the media while flourishing in competition. There are many techniques an athlete can use to overcome the media hurdles. Many hire sports psychologists or counselors. Sport psychology consultants can work with athletes to strengthen their mental preparedness in order to enhance and improve athletic performance. Sport psychology consultants are trained to help athletes understand how pressure affects them, and then introduce them to strategies to help them overcome the effects of pressure. The consultant educates athletes on mental techniques such as goal setting, motivation, confidence, relaxation, focus and concentration, team cohesion, and communication (Dunn, 2005). Moreover, sport psychologists are interested not only in helping athletes use psychological principles to enhance athletic performance, but also to achieve optimal mental health when facing tough situations brought about by sport such as pressure from family and fans, harsh comments from coaches, or media criticism.
Positive Vibes
While media has potential to negatively impact athletic performance, this medium can also be used to cultivate or bring out the best in an athlete. In an excerpt from the book, Coaching Wrestling Successfully, Dan Gable, a gold medalist in freestyle wrestling in the 1972 Olympics and former head wrestling coach for the University of Iowa, discuses various ways to motivate wrestlers. Of specific note is his view on using the media as a tool to positively motivate wrestlers. He believes athletes get pumped up from positive media, and media forums should be used extensively as a tool to motivate athletic performance. One specific media outlet he references is the collegiate team's annual poster. He suggests that if athletes know they will get their picture on the poster if they become an All-American, they are motivated to excel and attain some deserved recognition. He also discussed the advantages of having a media day before the first competition each year. He says this not only serves as a good motivator, but also assists to enhance the athlete's communication skills in responding to the media. Most importantly, Gable stresses the importance of a coach's statements to the media and how they can serve as motivators. He believes athletes are inspired when they hear their coach's positive comments about them (Gable, 1999).

Conclusion

The examples and cases above support the premise that media does impact athletic performance. The cases also reveal or recognize that athletes have two choices: 1) they can succumb to the challenges of media distractions, or 2) they can meet the challenges of media.

American poet Arthur Guiterman wrote, "The stones that critics hurl with harsh intent - a man may use to build a monument"'. As evidenced above, we suggest that a champion can use those stones as momentum to win. Research into the specific mechanisms of how the media influences athletic performance is warranted.

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Does the Media Impact Athletic Performance?

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Submitted by: Kyle Ott, B.S. & Marieke Van Puymbroeck, Ph.D., CTRS, CRC "It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds...

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Negative social media and its influence on athlete performance

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Social media in sport: Driving fan engagement

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Social Media in Sports: Effects and Opportunities | Greenfly

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Social media has a huge impact on sports globally. Social media is changing fan engagement for athletes, leagues, teams and sports marketers.

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The dark side of social media and its effects on athletes

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Social media has revolutionized the way people communicate and connect with each other. It has become an indispensable part of our daily lives, with millions of people across the world using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences with others.

However, as much as social media has become an integral part of modern society, it also has its negative effects, especially on professional athletes. In this article, we will explore how social media affects athletes' mental wellness, from constant pressure to maintain a perfect image to cyberbullying and unrealistic expectations.
The Pressure to be Perfect: The Negative Effect of Social Media on Athletes
One of the most significant negative effects of social media on athletes is the pressure to maintain a positive image. Athletes are often held to impossibly high standards of perfection, and any mistake, real or perceived, can be amplified and broadcast to millions of people in an instant. This constant scrutiny can lead to feelings of anxiety, depression, and self-doubt, which can negatively impact an athlete's performance on the field or court.
Distractions on the Field and Beyond: How Social Media Affects Athletes' Focus
Another negative effect of social media on athletes is the constant distractions that it can provide. Social media platforms are designed to be highly engaging and can lead to an endless cycle of scrolling, liking, and commenting. This can be especially problematic for athletes who need to focus on training, game-planning, and recovery in order to perform at their best. Athletes who spend too much time on social media may find themselves struggling to stay motivated, focused, and engaged in their sport.
Cyberbullying and Athletes' Mental Wellness
Social media can also be a breeding ground for cyberbullying, which can take a toll on an athlete's mental wellness. Athletes may be subjected to a constant barrage of negative comments and criticism from online trolls, which can lead to feelings of isolation, anxiety, and depression.
The Disconnect Between the Public Persona and the Private Self
Finally, social media can give rise to unrealistic expectations among athletes. Many athletes feel the need to present a perfect image to the public, and they may feel pressure to hide their true selves. This can lead to a disconnection between their public persona and their private selves.
Take Action: Protecting Athletes' Mental Wellness in the Digital Age
In conclusion, while social media can be a useful tool for professional athletes, it's important for them to be aware of its potential negative effects on their mental wellness. Athletes should be mindful of the amount of time they spend on social media, the types of content they are consuming, and the ways in which they are interacting with others online. They should seek professional help if they feel overwhelmed by the pressure and negativity that can come with social media. It is important for the athlete's support system (coaches, trainers, and mental health professionals) to be aware of the potential negative effects of social media and to provide guidance and support in helping athletes navigate the digital world.
How Has Social Media Affected Your Mental Wellness?
We hope this article has shed some light on the negative effects of social media on athletes' mental wellness. We would love to hear from you, our readers, about your own experiences with social media and mental health.

Have you ever experienced cyberbullying or felt pressure to present a perfect image on social media? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

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The Dark Side of Social Media: Athletes' Mental Wellness

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Social media can be a powerful tool for building a personal brand and connecting with fans, but it can also have a detrimental effect on an athlete's mental wellness. Learn about the pressure to maintain a positive image, the constant distractions, and unrealistic expectations.