Young people swap the sports field for the sofa this summer

Children and young people expect to do over 40 percent less sport this summer than in recent months. Teenagers do not spend the time they would normally spend on sport on physical exercise, but on social media such as WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

This is the outcome of a survey by research agency GfK, commissioned by the Dutch Olympic Committee NOC*NSF and the newspaper AD, in which more than three thousand people took part. About 40 percent of 13 to 18-year-olds expect to do less or much less sport in the coming summer months. Teenagers expect their time to go on social media.

Of the young people aged 13 to 18, no less than 64 percent say their sports time is being traded for internet and social media use, such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and WhatsApp. “This is considerably higher than in the other age groups,” explains GfK researcher Dagmar van Ham.

Remo Mombarg, professor of physical education at Hanze University of Applied Sciences and the University of Groningen, argues: “Social media are much better organised than sport. You no longer have to leave the house for likes.” Mombarg, who also develops motor skills tests at Pearson, calls the fact that young people prefer social media to sport ‘a really big problem’. “If we don’t encourage exercise from a young age, children will remain less skilled in their motor skills for the rest of their lives.”

Sitting still

Richard Kaper, sports participation manager at NOC*NSF, also regrets the summer dip in sport. “Lack of exercise among young people is a big problem. In neighbourhoods where little sport is done anyway, you see it come to a complete standstill in summer.

The Netherlands is the champion of sitting.”

Cees Klaassen, director of the Royal Dutch Association for Physical Education, calls on children not to lounge on the sofa too much. “I don’t think banning social media is necessary, but children would do well to alternate time on social media with exercise.”