Exercise or lie down? The impact of fitness app use on users' wellbeing

Abstract

IntroductionThe use of fitness apps is becoming more and more widespread, and its impact on people's well-being has received more and more attention.MethodsThe relationship between fitness app use and users' well-being and the influence mechanism was explored using structural equation modeling with upward social comparison as the mediating variable and self-control as the moderating variable.ResultsThe questionnaire survey of 1,452 fitness app users over 18 years old shows that: (1) fitness app use is associated with users' well-being; (2) upward social comparison plays a mediating role in the relationship between fitness app use and users' well-being; (3) self-control has a moderating effect on the relationship between fitness app use and users' well-being.DiscussionSelf-control plays a significant moderating role between social comparison and well-being, upward social comparison can improve the well-being of high self-control users but reduce the well-being of low self-control users.