The impact of video gaming, music, and social media on physical activities among adults in China and Germany

ABSTRACT

Videogaming, music listening, and social media are popular activities in leisure time. In this study, we aim to investigate if time spent on these leisure activities has impacts on physical activity (PA) level across China and Germany. Accordingly, we undertook an online study among adults in China (n = 1123) and Germany (n = 1009) from December 2021 to February 2022. We found that adults in Germany reported higher energy expenditure on PA than those in China. Adults in Germany preferred a high level of PA, while adults in China preferred a low level. We also found that less time on videogaming or more time on music listening was associated with higher PA level. Interestingly, time spent on social media had no effect on PA level. Our findings suggested that regulating time spent on video gaming and music listening might help promote the public’s physical activities.

KEYWORDS:

• International physical activity questionnaire
• music
• physical exercises
• screen use
• online game
• social media

Acknowledgements

All authors contributed to the conceptualization, data curation, and methodology. C.H. and R.L. contributed to the data formal analysis. C.H., R.L., and S.L. contributed to the investigation. C.H. and R.L. contributed to the original draft preparation of writing. S.H., M.Z., and S.L. contributed to the review and editing of the writing. S.H., M.Z., and S.L. contributed to supervision and project administration. M.Z. and S.L. contributed to funding acquisition.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shanghai Mental Health Center (File number: 2021ky-15), Ethics Committee of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (File number: EA2/143/20), and Ethics Committee of Freie Universität Berlin (File number: 030/2022). We confirmed that all methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Informed consent was obtained from all subjects.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to institutional requirements but are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by internal research funds from Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin (S.L.); Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project [2018SHZDZX05], Shanghai Clinical Research Center for Mental Health [M.Z., 19MC1911100], and Shanghai Shenkang Hospital Development Center [M.Z., SHDC2020CR3045B].