Effects of Technology Use on Self-Reported Physical Activity: A Behavioral Change Perspective

ABSTRACT

Previous research finds initial evidence that affordances of interactivity, agency, and modality can help increase physical activity (PA). However, the cross-sectional nature of these studies provides a snapshot of behavior but does not assess the impact of affordances of technology on change in PA behavior. In this study, we bridge this gap and test if features of technology that afford interactivity, agency, and choice of modality will be associated with an increase in PA across time. Guided by the Motivational Technology Model (MTM), we scraped 784 user profiles from the BodySpace App (a social weightlifting smartphone application) at baseline and after 70 days and establish the relationship between the use of features that afford interactivity, agency, and modality and behavioral change. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Dhruv Sharma, from the Center for Statistical Training & Consulting (CSTAT) at Michigan State University, for his methodological expertise and assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Data availability statement

The data underlying this article will be shared on reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. While the MTM predicts a relationship between interactivity, agency, and navigability on relatedness, autonomy, and competence, respectively, Jung and Sundar (2021) found evidence of the effects of modality on competence.

2. To note, selecting a program to follow does not imply the user necessarily engages or performs the specific workout. The user can follow a program, but not necessarily engage with the routines every day (or at all), akin to signing up for a gym but not actually going.

3. Users of the BodySpace App have the option to keep their photos private, in which case we were unable to scrape the number of photos. Private accounts are coded as zero posted photos, representing that users may not feel competent in showcasing their photos or in the ability to self-present to others using technology. Setting photos to private is a way to prevent self-presentation.

4. For some participants the change in behavioral measure was negative, perhaps due to the deletion of a workout or data point between Time 1 and Time 2 (7 users for tracked workouts, 3 for weight lifted, and 4 for cardio hours). These users were excluded in each respective analysis.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.