Beyond Social Media Panics for ‘At Risk’ Youth in Mental Health Practice

Hendry, Natalie Ann; Robards, Brady; Stanford, Sonya

doi:10.1057/978-1-137-44136-2_10

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 23 publications

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“…Excessive or maladaptive patterns of SNS use may be harmful to mental health for some users, but our findings indicate that accessing mental health specific content on Instagram provides a range of perceived benefits, and few perceived harms. The ways in which Instagram and other SNS users engage with different content needs careful unpacking and parsing, to avoid media panics focused only on the negative mental health impacts of highly visual SNS like Instagram (Hendry et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

South African university students’ use of mental health content on Instagram.

Lekgothoane,

Kaminer

2024

Psychology of Popular Media

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To date, there has been little research on how young adults engage with mental health content on social networking sites (SNS), particularly in lower resource settings. The current sequential mixed methods study explored South African university students' experiences of accessing and engaging with mental-healthrelated content on Instagram. An online survey was administered to 567 university students (335 psychology students and 232 nonpsychology students) examining their use of Instagram to access mental health content. To supplement survey data, a subsample of survey participants (n = 7) were then interviewed to further explore their experiences of Instagram mental health content. A combination of descriptive statistics and thematic analysis was used to analyze data. Participants intentionally accessed Instagram mental health content using a variety of methods. The most common types of mental health content accessed by participants were inspirational and motivational posts, self-help tips and coping strategies, and information about mental health symptoms and treatment. In qualitative findings, participants expressed that mental health content accessed on Instagram provides motivation and comfort during times of distress, increases awareness of mental health symptoms, enhances coping strategies, and provides experiences of connectedness, support, normalization, and validation. Instagram appears to offer an accessible and acceptable source of mental health information, affirmation, and affiliation within a higher education setting in South Africa. The potential benefits of accessing mental health content on social media should be considered alongside the potential harms of SNS use. Public Policy Relevance StatementStudents at a South African university perceived Instagram as an accessible and acceptable source of mental health information and support. They expressed the value of Instagram mental health content in providing information, motivation, and coping strategies, as well as a space for validation and connection. Social networking sites like Instagram could play a valuable role in providing mental health information and support for university students in lower-resource contexts with constrained mental health services.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

South African university students’ use of mental health content on Instagram.

Lekgothoane,

Kaminer

2024

Psychology of Popular Media

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Young People’s Use of Digital Health Technologies in the Global North: Narrative Review (Preprint)

Lupton¹

2020

Preprint

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BACKGROUND A diverse array of digital technologies are available to children and young people living in the Global North to monitor, manage, and promote their health and well-being. OBJECTIVE This article provides a narrative literature review of the growing number of social research studies published over the past decade that investigate the types of digital technologies used by children and young people in the Global North, in addition to investigating which of these technologies they find most useful or not useful. Key findings as well as major gaps and directions for future research are identified and discussed. METHODS A comprehensive search of relevant publications listed in Google Scholar was conducted, supported by following citation trails of these publications. The findings are listed under type of digital technology used for health: cross-media, internet, social media, apps and wearable devices, sexual health support and information, and mental health support and information. RESULTS Many young people in the Global North are active users of digital health technologies. However, it is notable that they still rely on older technologies, such as websites and search engines, to find information. Apps and platforms that may not have been specifically developed for young people as digital health resources often better suit their needs. Young people appreciate the ready availability of information online, the opportunities to learn more about their bodies and health states, and the opportunities to learn how to improve their health and physical fitness. They enjoy being able to connect with peers, and they find emotional support and relief from distress by using social media platforms, YouTube, and online forums. Young people can find the vast reams of information available to them difficult to navigate. They often look to trusted adults to help them make sense of the information they find online and to provide alternative sources of information and support. Face-to-face interactions with these trusted providers remain important to young people. Risks and harms that young people report from digital health use include becoming overly obsessed with their bodies’ shape and size when using self-tracking technologies and comparing their bodies with the social media influencers they follow. CONCLUSIONS Further details on how young people are using social media platforms and YouTube as health support resources and for peer-to-peer sharing of information, including attention paid to the content of these resources and the role played by young social media influencers and microcelebrities, would contribute important insights to this body of literature. The role played by visual media, such as GIFs (Graphics Interchange Format) and memes, and social media platforms that have recently become very popular with young people (eg, Snapchat and TikTok) in health-related content creation and sharing requires more attention by social researchers seeking to better understand young people’s use of digital devices and software for health and fitness.

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Beyond Social Media Panics for ‘At Risk’ Youth in Mental Health Practice

Cited by 2 publications

References 23 publications

South African university students’ use of mental health content on Instagram.

South African university students’ use of mental health content on Instagram.

Young People’s Use of Digital Health Technologies in the Global North: Narrative Review (Preprint)

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