The goal of this study is to investigate the effects social media such as Facebook and bbm have on the fitness of individuals, and the effects these social networks have on the amount of time people spend exercising and keeping in good physical shape and the effects imposed by social networks on the amount of time individuals have to rest their bodies, as opposed to the volume of time they spend on these social networks as they have been noted down as to having major impacts on the social lives of individuals. Many people nowadays tend to spend most of their leisure time engaging on these social networks instead of participating in active social activities such as sports. Although in today’s society wealth is customarily obtainable through ones level of education, social media has impacted greatly on the education process of the people today. Indeed social medias have had negative impacts on the wellness of people, we cannot neglect the fact that it has also had some positive effects on the wellness of people as it has created podiums for people to share ideas on how to better their life situations, health and fitness levels and has also provided a source of information where people can learn about the many ways in which they can efficiently take care of themselves and their own bodies. Indeed in today’s society, social media and health go hand in hand, as people spend most of their time communicating on these social Medias, and whenever they are in need of advice, they consult their acquaintances on theses social networks. Health is not only an aspect of physical well-being, but there are also other aspects of health such as emotional health and social health of individuals. The dangers social media possess to these spheres of health is shocking, as most people today communicate through the use of these social medias and as we know, not everything that is said in these social medias is fact or truth, meaning that enormous amount of misinformation has been spreading through the various social medias, which has resulted in the interruption of a frequent number of family lives and social (face to face) lives. Social media has resulted in a decline in the amount of time people spend taking care of their physical well-being, which in-turn has resulted in a large number of people becoming overweight. This topic is a very crucial topic as it has had major impacts on the lives of children, adults, students and scholars performances in school as the levels of outstanding achievements in schools has dropped extensively and there has been an upsurge in the number of people who have lost their jobs due to their excessive indulgence in these social networks, and neglecting their official duties and obligations.
Ever since the introduction of technology; social communication between people has been changing. In today’s society people spend most of their time communicating through social Medias, rather than having social congregations whereby they communicate face to face or by calling each other. Social media indeed has made communication more efficient as it has created a world of texting where people from different countries or people in different areas can instantly send text messages instantly to one another. This may be viewed as a positive phenomenon to our society, yet on the other hand, we cannot discard the fact that social networks are very addictive as they may consume a large amount of people’s daily lives as people may excessively spend their time communicating on the plentiful types of social networks that exist in society today, and less with those in their vicinity.
Facebook is a social network, where an individual creates a profile about him/herself and uses it to communicate with other people, the profile contains his/her name and may be accompanied by their photo, this allows other people to recognise ones profile as they may be searching through the possible number of profiles that may exist which may contain names that are similar to those of other people on the social network.
As similar to Facebook, a social media such as (BBM) Blackberry Messaging and whatsapp exist in today’s society. These social networks are also used by people to communicate, but unlike Facebook that can be used on a computer and on a cellphone, whiles whatsapp and bbm can only be used on cellphones. BBM is a social network that requires that an individual obtains the pin of another individual, which will allow him or her to send a request to another person, asking to communicate with them, but unlike the requirements of Facebook, whatsapp is a social network that requires that you only have the number of the other person on your own phone and you will be able to send messages to that person. Unlike Facebook where you have to send a request to communicate with another person and they have to approve your request, on whatsapp you do not need to send a communication request, but once you have the other person’s number, you can instantly send that individual a message and communicate with each other through that system of text messaging. BBM is a proprietary internet based pin messenger and voice telephonic application included on blackberry devices that allows messaging and voice calling communication between blackberry, IOS, Windows iPhone and Android users. Messages sent through this system are sent over the internet and use the blackberry pin system. The service communicates using the phone’s internet connection using the mobile phone network. Swapping messages is possible to a single person and groups, allowing multiple users to communicate in a single session. Through social media, fabricated perceptions have been created, and virtual personalities have been created. People create favourable images of themselves in order to advertise their products or services and make them appear as effective as they possible can with the hope of attracting a wider range of customers. (Maxwell, 2007)
Emotional Fitness
Social medias, are now viewed as mediums of communication, this means that more and more people are using these services to communicate with one another, although this has had a positive bearing on the effectiveness of receiving text messages instantly, and at a cheaper price, this has also had unconventional impacts, as there is no consideration of what the person on the other end of the communication device is occupied with, in this sense if a message encompassing bad news is sent to an individual who might be driving or in a position where all his senses must be in accord, when they receive the message, their state of emotional balance will be altered and the results of this alteration may be disastrous. For some people the emotions or connotations that they may attribute to social networks, may influence the way they receive the message, if a message is sent intended to create one emotion, yet when it reaches its intended addressee, it creates an adverse reaction, different to that which the person sending the message intended to invoke
Literature review
STUDY 1
According to a study conducted by Curtis (2012); at present, almost all individuals in society depend on information and communication to keep their lives moving through daily activities like work, schooling, healthcare, leisure activities, entertainment, travelling and personal relationships etc. These social medias contains adverts of various products, and most of the products advertised do not necessarily promote healthy living lifestyles, but instead seem to promote living negligently as to put it, which in-turn may lead to social networks been viewed as the leading cause in the increased rate of poor eating habits amongst children
STUDY 2
According to Sultan 2014, in a study conducted in Kuwait, on 200 BBM and WhatsApp users, more than 32% of participants reported using these services more than 12 times per hour, while 53% of the participants professed as to either been BBM or WhatsApp addicts or do not know whether they are addicts or not. What Sultan’s findings exposed is that participants spent 52 minutes per day on calls, 60 minutes on sms and 104 minutes on social networks of instant messaging. What his findings also revealed is that people who spent most of their time on social networks, had low self-esteem, high levels of social isolation and low levels of social skills.
STUDY 3
Another study which was conducted by Dr. Anthonia in 2014, in Nigeria, on students in Enugu East local government are of Enugu state, although students use WhatsApp and BBM to share crucial information, they spend most of their time engrossed with gossips and end up using these social networks to talk about their own personal matters and neglect the informative and educational benefits of participation in these social networks, which has also led to negative impacts on their reading habits, academics and social life, mainly because of the fact that they spend more time on using the social networks to gossip, rather than to exchange important information.
STUDY 4
According to Bouhnik 2014: 219; the platforms created by social networks have had a positive impact on the educational communication between students and teachers, as this has created a way for students and teachers to be able to efficiently communicate at a cheaper cost and has allowed for the creation of virtual chat room, where students and teacher can engage in discussions without having to be in the same place, In his study in South Africa, he also uncovered that these social networks have had a positive impact on the studies of students, as student often fear asking questions in class, but these social networks have led to a platform where students can engaged actively and seek explanations from peers and their lecturers on topics which they feel that they have not clearly understood or on any other academic challenges that they may be confronted with.
EFFECTS
Although social networks, such as Facebook, WhatssApp and BBM, have been very effective on the creation of communication levels and have enabled students to communicate with each other and teachers outside of school hours, like all other addictive process, students sometimes end up addicted to these social networks: which in turn leads other to indulge disproportionately in these social networks, mainly focusing on their own pleasures and personal communication, which in-turn leads to them neglecting their school work and end up performing poorly in their studies
Methodology
Questionnaires
Participant observation
In-depth Interview
– Questionnaires are administered to people who are students and who partake in sports and communicate through the use of Facebook and BBM.
– Questions will be administered to find out if people miss out on training time because of been pre-occupied with Facebook or BBM.
– Inspection of areas of recreation, where people indulge in sports and exercise and observe how many people participate in sport and how many do not, and the number of people who give full attention to activities, and those who do not due to their pre-occupation with the social networks.
APPURATUS
Questionnaires – Open ended questions,
Focus questions and exploratory questions; Observing and recording of behaviour
DATA ANALYSIS
– Interview transcripts
– Review of field notes of students in places of social activities
RESEARCH METHOD
Qualitative
– Verifiable results
– 30 participants or more
– Non-subjective
Type of research
Exploratory research will be used as the aim of the study is to find out if social Medias such as Facebook and whatsapp have a negative or positive impact in the fitness of individuals.