Getting Better? Hegemonic, Negotiated and Oppositional Uses of Instagram for Mental Health Support

Abstract

By analysing 600 Instagram posts that use mental health related hashtags, this article investigates how mental health communication and support practices are enacted on Instagram, and how such practices relate to the perceptible affordances and hegemonic uses of the service. The article demonstrates how Instagram tends to privilege casual snapshots of individual recovery, in line with broader discourses of positive thinking and individual responsibility. Whereas this hegemonic way of using the service may be functional for many users, three examples of negotiated and oppositional use are also discussed in the article: motivational picture quotes, text-rich posts, and non-recovery oriented posts. It is suggested that different ways of imagining and approaching the affordances of the service engender different patterns of support practices.

The Benefits of Instagram on Teenagers’ Mental Health

“…Many people with mental illnesses turn to the Internet to search for help and support, and to feel a sense of belonging as they connect with other people who are in similar conditions. One of the studies shows that …one significant feature of online support is the display of empathy through reciprocal self-disclosure, or the telling of "second stories" that echo and elaborate on personal stories previously posted in the forum [2] (Lindgren, Simon, 2021). Instagram serves as a platform for people to tell their narrative stories and personal experiences related to mental health, therefore fostering a tight community bonded by shared similarities and experiences.…”

“…Oftentimes, people on Instagram use motivational picture quotes that …constitute a widespread means of communicating about mental health issues on Instagram. [2] Motivational pictures often appear as where inspirational texts are overlaid on images that are sometimes poetically written, designed to send messages regarding mental health and well-being. In real life, many teenagers repost these kinds of pictures on their Instagram stories, increasing the exposure of mental health awareness on online platforms by sharing this information with others.…”

Ernährung auf TikTok. Eine inhaltsanalytische Untersuchung zu Vielfalt, Ernährungskompetenz-Dimensionen und Werbung

“…Viele Untersuchungen zu Gesundheitsthemen haben sich bisher sozialen Plattformen wie Instagram (Lindgren & Johansson, 2023;Looi et al, 2023) oder YouTube (Clark et al, 2023;Döring, 2019;Reinhardt et al, 2023) gewidmet. Bei der Videoplattform TikTok han delt es sich um eine vergleichsweise neue Plattform, die es Nutzer:innen ermöglicht, kurze Videos mit Musik im Hintergrund hochzuladen und dabei integrierte Videobearbeitungs tools, Filter oder andere Gestaltungselemente zur Optimierung des eigenen Contents zu nutzen.…”