In the early 2000’s, while I was finishing up college, I decided to embark on a coaching journey that lasted for 12 seasons. During this time, I began to see changes in the landscape of sports that I did not anticipate or expect. As a football coach, we would go to games and see the opposing teams' sidelines and wonder, where is everyone? Junior Varsity rosters were shrinking due to low participation and there were times when we had a football game with only 15 kids suited up and barely enough lineman to play. During the wrestling season, we would go to matches and compete against teams that had terrible participation. Some programs had less than ten kids competing between grades 7-12! In more recent years, I hear stories of basketball teams struggling to fill their lineups and soccer programs not getting enough athletes out to have a Junior Varsity team. This baffles me.
Each year, the Aspen Institute releases their State of Play report and while looking at the 2021 trends in athletic participation, I came across some undesirable trends. From 2012 to 2019 sport participation decreased in males aged 6-12 from 49.1% to 39.1%. A whopping 10% decrease! In girls of the same age, the numbers went from 33.5% to 32.7%. A much smaller decrease here but this has me asking, why are only 33% of young girls in sporting activities? Now, for kids aged 13-17 in the same time frame, male participation went from 51.1% to 43.5% and for females from 39.0% to 34.8%. I chose to use these years as a reference point as they took place prior to COVID restrictions. These trends were sloping downward in a big way before the world decided to shut everything down. The years I spent coaching and the statistics from the Aspen Institute coincide almost perfectly in line with the rise of screen based media. In 2004, Facebook was created for college students to connect with one another in a virtual setting. In 2006, it opened up its membership to non-college students and in 2009 added more features including the “Like” button. These advancements paved the way for companies like Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Tik Tok to offer more and more features. Companies like Youtube, Netflix and Amazon got into the mix and began offering streaming services never before seen. These items provide short term joy but the downsides far outweigh the positives. This is not some speculative statement on my part. The American Journal of Public Health reported in 2015 that screen based media is associated with low self-esteem, poor academic performance, obesity and a decrease in fitness. Heavy users of screen based media were less likely to be happy and more likely to have socioemotional difficulties. Young people who chatted on social web sites between 1-3 hours per day were half as likely to be happy than those who chatted for less than an hour per day. All of these things factor into a child's desire to do pro-social activities like join a club, play a sport, or meet up with others for an activity. Think about this in your own life. When you are feeling down in the dumps, do you really feel like going out and being social or physically exerting yourself? More often than not, that answer is NO! With kids using screens more and more, and social media sites becoming more addicting, the desire to put those devices down will decrease more and more. The more they use, the more they will crave it. As a result, the mental health of our kids will continue to suffer. I think back to a conversation I had recently with a pediatric emergency room physician and he told me, “our emergency room is filled with suicidal teens and you would never know it.” My heart sank upon hearing this. My journey trying to understand the sport participation problem led me down a curious path and to be honest, I don’t think I came to a concluding thought on the matter yet. At the moment, my mind is telling me that the rise in screen based media use coincides with a sharp decrease in sport participation and I do not believe that to be an accident. So what shall we do to combat this? If you are looking for an actionable step to help your child to reduce screen time and increase physical activity, look no further than the displacement theory. With this idea, you take a negative behavior (sedentary screen use) and replace it with a positive behavior (a physical activity). This could be a family walk, trying out something new like tennis or frisbee golf, or joining a team. I know this may not be easy in some cases and it may take some serious convincing and/or arm twisting, but if you can stay the course, you will be rewarded with a happier kid. The outcomes associated with physical activity and sport participation is literally the antithesis of screen based media. Young people who exercise more have lower levels of depression, stress and psychological distress, and higher levels of positive self-image, life satisfaction and overall well-being. We would all love to have a little more of that in our lives! Chris Fluck P.S. If you need more help, The American Psychological Association outlines 7 Steps that you can take as a family to encourage physical activity in your child. These steps can be found here: How and Why to Get Your Children Moving Now
5 Comments
10/18/2022 10:24:15 am
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4/11/2023 12:50:47 am
Your article about Is Social Media Killing Youth Sports was a true joy to read, and I am grateful for the knowledge and insights you shared. Thank you for your dedication to the sport and for sharing your expertise with us.
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