Is Fitness Technology-Facilitated Social Comparison the Thief of Well-Being? The Mediating Role of Social Comparison on the Relationships Between Passion and Performance Self-Esteem.

This article examines how exercisers' passion for their activity influences their interpretation of social comparison information provided by popular fitness technologies (e.g., Fitbit, Strava, MyFitnessPal, Apple Fitness+), and how these interpretations affect their performance self-esteem and psychological well-being. Drawing on the Dualistic Model of Passion, it distinguishes between harmonious passion—where exercise is integrated autonomously into identity—and obsessive passion—where exercise is linked to controlled internalization and contingent self-esteem. The study finds that harmoniously passionate exercisers tend to interpret social comparison data adaptively, viewing better performers as attainable goals and worse performers as evidence of their success, which benefits their self-esteem. In contrast, obsessively passionate exercisers are more likely to interpret such comparisons maladaptively, seeing better performers as evidence of their own failure and worse performers as signs of potential decline, leading to reduced self-esteem and well-being. The findings suggest that fitness technology developers should consider user characteristics like passion to tailor social features and minimize negative psychological impacts.