A new podcast by SETU lecturer Bruce Wardrop is assessing the effect fitness influencers can have on people’s mental health. Titled ‘Fitspo or Fits-foe,’ the Beat 102-103 podcast aired on 8 June.
Bruce, a sports and exercise science lecturer at SETU’s Cork Road campus in Waterford, recently published the podcast as part of the University’s Level 6 Certificate in Radio and Podcasting, which is run in conjunction with Beat and WLR FM.
Cognisant of the influence that social media fitness personalities can have over their followers, Bruce set out to question if the rapid growth of this online industry is doing more harm than good.
“Between Instagram and TikTok there are hundreds of thousands of accounts churning out a staggering amount of content for us to consume. Searching for the hashtag ‘fitspo’ or ‘fitspiration’ will return over 100 million posts on Instagram alone,” said Bruce. “More and more it feels like I’m competing with fitness influencers for my students’ attention.”
“Podcasting has taught me that incorporating enough emotion into your messaging is an effective way of maintaining audience attention. I am already planning some subtle changes to one of my modules in September to bring more storytelling to what is a science-based module.”
Bruce Wardrop SETU Lecturer
Selling a lifestyle
Bruce says the research he conducted while producing the podcast led him to conclude that a sizable proportion of fitness content posted on social media is created to sell a product or aspirational lifestyle.
This promotional technique, Bruce believes, could have a detrimental effect on mental health, “Fitness influencers typically want to show off their toned bodies, to convince us that their products or methods are best. Consuming this content could make us feel like we are not working hard enough, doing something wrong, or even feel body shamed - none of that is good.”
Learnings
With the podcast now live, Bruce hopes to bring his broadcast course learnings into the lecture hall, “Podcasting has taught me that incorporating enough emotion into your messaging is an effective way of maintaining audience attention. I am already planning some subtle changes to one of my modules in September to bring more storytelling to what is a science-based module.”
SETU’s Certificate in Radio and Podcasting is a practice-based introduction to radio broadcasting and presenting jointly developed and delivered by South East Technological University SETU, Beat and WLR FM. The course is delivered by both academic lecturers and broadcasters. It is designed to introduce the operation of a commercial radio station and the day-to-day work of broadcasters within it.
You can listen to the podcast in full by tapping here.
