Addressing athlete social media distractions during events: examining effective and ineffective approaches

Based on the understanding that social media can distract athletes and impact performance during major sport events, this research sought to understand how sport organizations help athletes address social media distractions. Underpinned by social cognitive theory, the research adopted a phenomenological qualitative research design to two studies. Study One analyzed sport organizations’ social media policies while Study Two used interviews with 15 current Olympians to uncover the effectiveness of their approaches. Three themes emerged including best practices education, insufficient social media policies and frameworks, and personalized support. The research identified proactive and reactive measures used to manage social media distractions. The findings contribute to social cognitive theory by revealing athletes’ openness to learning new ways to manage social media use during events and draw from the experiences of peers. The findings can inform event management practice through real-time support of athletes on event grounds as well as through active promotion of healthy social media use in and around an event.