Online Psychological safety for athletes
By Dr Josephine Perry, Team Sports Psychologist
As a sport psychologist, I find it really helpful to follow the athletes I work with on Social Media. It gives a daily insight to the stressors they might be having to deal with but also the highs of their lives as athletes. I am often surprised though when we talk in sessions and I realise just how much is really going on behind the scenes that none of us mention online (and why should we) and that just how much of what we do see is impression management.
Impression management is the way we show ourselves to others in the best light we can. We want all our brilliant values and achievements on display, not the warts and all failures, vulnerabilities and worries. When an athlete does show their vulnerabilities the rarity will attract attention, and often be valuable content to show others struggling with similar issues that they are not alone but in doing so they open themselves up to criticism or trolling.
We don’t just have impression management on the elements and information we write or show but we also have information from our watches and trackers. How much do you want on Strava? The paces you are training at? The places you go (a big risk for female athletes) and then what of this information gets posted and where. As a result, I am often asked if social media and the tech it is on is psychologically safe for athletes?
There are definitely some risks with social media for athletes…
Social media, particularly platforms like TikTok, is designed to distract you, to pull you in and be addictive. The average amount of time a TikTok user stays on the platform each day? 53 minutes. If you are training at an elite level and doing all the extras that it takes to be brilliant; physio, stretching, recovery, nutrition, sponsor work, planning and prep then you don’t need to be losing 53 minutes a day watching random dance moves.
If you have an off day and post something dumb it will stay with you. People will screenshot, save and bring it back to haunt you. You won’t be an athlete forever – the average age of retirement in sport is around 33 and 90% of athletes will not have made enough money to retire – so at some point you will need a regular job. Your social media needs to be pretty vanilla to get through HR filters.
The biggest issue I see for athletes who use socials a lot: trolling. They are out in the world, pushing themselves every day, desperately trying to make it and there is a bored, jealous person on the end of their phone who gets an odd kick out of making others feel bad. I will always remember interviewing a athlete for a research piece years ago and they said they won an Olympic medal. It was their dream come true. And then they scrolled through twitter and while 99% of the messages were lovely and supportive the one they will always remember commented on the size of their nose. Totally unnecessary and purely designed to suck the joy out of an amazing achievement.
You can also get caught up in a media storm if you post about issues that some see as contentious. In sport this can be very easily done; especially on gender issues where there are two very binary perspectives and however nuanced or valid your points are, those on the other side of the debate will not shy away from telling you that you are wrong. Having hundreds of messages telling you what an awful person you are does not facilitate great performance.
Finally, if you are too honest it can offer information to competitors – if you tweet about your poor mental health or anxiety or injury in the build up to a competition it may make them feel more confident in beating you. If you discuss a peak in performance they might be keener to beat you.
It is also time consuming to do it well, so why bother?
Because there are also some great positives…
You gain fans for you and your sport. If you have read Lauren Fleshman’s book (Good for a Girl – highly recommended) she talks about the nerves she felt stepping onto the track at National Champs and the fans in the audience who had read her recent blogpost about that fear all stood up giving her a C sign in their hands: C for Courage. It lifted her heart and her performance.
It builds your own profile. Again, Lauren’s book discusses how blogposts she wrote which really resonated with people increased sales of her journal and nutrition bars.
Increases impact for sponsors – or makes you more likely to get some. Sponsors want more than fans to see you wearing their kit crossing a finish line. They want potential customers to see you using their product day in day out and incorporating it into your life. Eilish McColgan is someone to watch who does this really well. Social media opens those doors.
A more personal benefit is that it helps you stay in touch with others when away at camps or competitions. High level sport can be fairly isolating. Social media gives you a sense of belonging and connection wherever you are in the world, in whatever time zone you find yourself.
It can garner really supportive messages so you feel like you have a tribe of people all on your side.
Finally, it is a really easy way for fans and journalists to find out about you – from your perspective, with your narrative. You control what is said about you – rather than other’s filtering what they think and if is a lovely way to get free publicity for the things you achieve.
3 ways to keep yourself psychologically safer when using technology
A pre-performance bubble
The bubble can last as long or short as the athlete likes. Olympic athletes usually go for about 24-48 hours. It will a be lot shorter, perhaps just a few hours, for team athletes who play every week. Once the time has been picked the next stage is to agree how you will protect yourself during this period. There are various options to pick:
Phone off.
Phone on with internet off or using a non-smart phone.
Phone on but messaging apps removed.
Phone given to someone else so if there is an emergency they can let you know.
Hanging out with others.
Hanging out on your own.
Having music which gets your amped up.
Having music which calms you down.
Having helpful routines such as a pre-performance routine which would include stretching, a warm up, breathing exercises or getting into your alter-ego.
Avoiding newspapers if it is a competition likely to be covered in them.
Having lots of Netflix to watch.
For those travelling with teammates who struggle with engagement from others in the build-up then large headphones and music can help them to block out negative nervous talk from others.
2. Auditing your tech use
How much do you rely on, and could cut down on:
Smart phone
GPS watch (or other measuring devices)
Biofeedback apps or equipment (such as Heart Rate Monitor or Powermeter)
Music player
Lap top
3. Understanding the pros and cons of your own tech use
Looking at the goals you have set consider how these different technologies could help you fulfil or undermine each goal.
Does it help you stick to goals?
Does it track speed / distance / height / time trained accurately without judgement?
Does it give you access to any supportive online communities?
Does it give you helpful feedback?
Does it facilitate Biofeedback?
Does it make online challenges or competitions more important than ones taking place in real life?
Do you find there is any online judgement or bitching?
Does it facilitate you becoming more envious or making comparisons with other athletes?
Does it help you feel more or less isolated when injured?