POSITIVE MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY

Creating Meaningful Connections In Virtual Environments

Pamela Rutledge, PhD, MBA Faculty, Media Psychology Program

Can technology make us feel more connected?

This hotly-debated question became especially important during the social isolation imposed by the pandemic. Schools and businesses closed, and we tried to get on with our lives without leaving home. Not surprisingly, home exercise equipment sales surged as brands like Peloton offered a personalizable virtual exercise experience. Like many, I bought a Peloton bike and began to “meet” regularly to ride with some Fielding media psych colleagues. Using a framework from positive psychology applied to media experience, we discussed how the Peloton bike created feelings of community and social presence that transformed effort and sweat into something quantifiable, trackable, and motivational. When we read stories about people replacing their therapists with a Peloton bike, curiosity turned into a research project, inspiring us to ask: Was Peloton use related to improvements in mental health and perceptions of personal growth?

The Research Project

R ecent graduate Dr. Scott Garner, current student Holly Collins, and I developed a survey to explore this question. Based on the psychological theories commonly used to understand the motivation to exercise and positive personal growth, we wondered if the anecdotal enthusiasm in the popular press was related to Peloton riders’ sense of social connection and community, and if so, if feeling part of a community was positively associated with mental health and personal growth. Popular media described user connection to Peloton as “cult-like,” and the passion was evident when we recruited participants on social media. In less than a week, we received over a thousand responses.

The Results

Our results supported anecdotes in the popular press. Over 95 percent of the participants felt Peloton provided much-needed emotional support during the pandemic that became a transformative journey of personal growth. Feelings of connection to the Peloton community increased participants’ appreciation of their strengths and their willingness to try new things. The immersive and interactive exercise environment tapped into something psychologically motivating and meaningful for our participants. We measured participants’ sense of belongingness, parasocial connections, and personal growth. However, many also shared personal stories of emotional connection, empowerment, and change. One participant thanked us for the opportunity to share the meaning she found due to her Peloton experience.

Our Takeaways

Positive technology is designed to improve wellbeing and quality of life, and it has the potential to increase accessibility and affordability, making effective positive interventions widely available. Using exercise equipment like Peloton goes beyond improving physical fitness by targeting individual strengths and positive emotions that improve mental health. For example, interactivity can increase agency, and virtual and realtime communication can increase belongingness and feelings of connectedness to a community. With Peloton riders, we found that many features contributed to a social experience that helped offset feelings of isolation, including high-fives, followers, hashtags, leaderboards, and social media links. The sense of community support was amplified by parasocial connections with dynamic and skilled instructors delivering empowering and encouraging messaging. High-end production values and dynamic playlists in collaboration with current artists enhanced the sense of immediacy, creating an environment that, while virtual, became a multisensory experience where exercisers felt valued, seen, and heard. There is a lesson here for all brands, not just those selling exercise equipment. Consumers are not brand loyal — they are experience loyal. Meaningful experience doesn’t come from tricks and flash; it comes from the emotional connection. Even in virtual environments, focusing on the psychological experience can create a rewarding emotional connection and positive outcome. As Peloton illustrates, technology can be designed to create powerful experiences of social connection and community through interactivity, presence, and parasocial engagement. Being part of something larger and feeling connected to others is essential to sustained participation and, for a business relying on membership, and subscriptions.

The real power of immersive, interactive exercise products is their ability to literally and figuratively “move” people by creating a palpable sense of community that becomes a source of encouragement and strength. Social presence is a secret sauce that can turn ordinary exercise into a journey of individual growth, empowerment, and resilience.

Fielding Authors In Print

Fielding alum and past EBC Program Director Carrie Arnold, PhD (HOD, ’17), and Francine Campone, EdD (past EBC Program Director), are authors of The Ethical Coaches’ Handbook. Rutledge, 2022.

Steve Camkin, PhD (HOD, ’08) co-authored Finding Resilience: Lessons Learned from Getting Lost with his trekking partner Mukhtar Makussara. Luminare Press, 2021.

Fielding Faculty Emeritus JeanPierre Isbouts, DLitt, authored Mona Lisa and the Elusive Art of Leonardo da Vinci’s Paintings. Pantheon Publishing, 2022.

Brian Cutler, PhD, Media Psychology Professor and Program Director, and co-authors released “Development of the Interview and Interrogation Assessment Instrument” in Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 2022.

Marie Sonnet, PhD (HOD, ’16), Teresa Southam, PhD (HOD, ’20), and Human and Organizational Development Program Faculty Patrice Rosenthal, PhD, co-edited Driving Social Innovation. Fielding University Press, 2022.

Fielding alum William Hart (MA in Human Development, ’20) authored Elephants Are Not Artists. Lawley Enterprises, LLC, 2022.