Association between fitness technology use and physical activity mediated by communication behaviors on social media

Objective: Fitness technologies, such as smartphone applications and wearable tracking devices, have gained widespread popularity. This study had two main objectives: 1) to examine whether fitness technology use is associated with increased physical activity (PA) levels and 2) to investigate whether communication behaviors on social media mediated the association between fitness technology use and PA. Methods: Data were from the U.S. Health Information National Trends Survey 2022 (N = 6,252, weighted N = 258,418,467). Weighted linear regressions were conducted to examine the associations between fitness technology usage, physical activities, and communication behaviors on social media. Mediations were tested using PROCESS macro, a path-analysis based tool. Results: Controlling for demographic and other known influences on PA, the findings revealed that users of fitness technology reported higher levels of both moderate PA (β =.41, p < 0.001) and strength training (β =.29, p < 0.001). Additionally, communication behaviors (i.e., sharing personal health information on social media and watching health-related videos on social media) mediated the relationship between fitness technology use and frequencies of strength training. Conclusion: The results underscored the potential of fitness technologies in enhancing PA levels through promoting communication behaviors on social media.