From Activism to Influence: Unpacking the Romanticisation of Mental Illness Online
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/2957-3645/12408Keywords:
depression, social media, romancing depression, mental healthAbstract
Social media has become an integral part of daily life, particularly among youths, shaping interactions and influencing mental well-being. Unfortunately, this has also led to a rise in cyberbullying, particularly concerning the sharing of personal struggles, such as depression. Despite these challenges, some youths have adeptly navigated social media to promote mental health awareness and activism. However, a subset of these activists has become popular influencers, sometimes prioritising maintaining their online status over their advocacy roles. Consequently, there is a concern that some may inadvertently glorify or romanticise depression to sustain their popularity. In this article, I explore the influence of social media on mental health activism, focusing on its effects on the mental well-being of youths. I examine whether the portrayal of depression by influencers or mental health activists contributes positively to destigmatisation efforts or if it inadvertently perpetuates misconceptions. The data were collected from the different social media platforms of nine participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for an in-depth understanding of the mined data. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. The themes that emanated from the findings were: disguised “activism” and killing two birds with one stone, increased popularity versus activism, and irrelevant content. The study highlights the importance of investigating the impact of social media on mental health activism by recognising the potential implications on the mental well-being of youths. Social media influencers aim to change perceptions of depression, but there is still a growing concern whether the proposed new image of depression is helpful or misleading.
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Mijar, M. A., & Manaf, A. M. A. (2021). Eco-activist social media influencers (SMI) on Twitter: Does credibility matter? IIUM Journal of Human Sciences, 3(2), 15–26. https://doi.org/10.31436/ijohs.v3i2.197
Mueller, A. S. (2019). Why Thirteen Reasons Why may elicit suicidal ideation in some viewers but help others. Social Science and Medicine, 232, 499–501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.04.014
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Patel, V., Saxena, S., Lund, C., Thornicroft, G., Baingana, F., Bolton, P., Chisholm, M., Collins, P., Cooper, J. L., Eaton, J., Herrman, H., Herzallah, M. M., Huang, Y., Jordans, M. J. D., Kleinman, A., Merdina-Mora, M. E., Morgan, E., Niaz, U., Omigbodun, O., Prince, M., . . . UnÜtzer, J. (2018). The Lancet commission on global mental health and sustainable development. Lancet, 392(10157), 1553–1598. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31612-X
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Shrestha, A. (2018). Echo: The romanticization of mental illness on Tumblr. ECHO, 5(1), 69–80.
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Ahmad, N., Hussain, S., & Munir, N. (2018). Social networking and depression among university students. Pakistan Journal of Medical Research, 57(2), 77–82. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326112260_Social_Networking_and_Depression_among_University_Students
American Association of Suicidology. (2017, 9 May). American Association of Suicidology responds to “3 Reasons Why”. EinPresswire. https://www.einpresswire.com/article/380176852/american-association-of-suicidology-responds-to-13-reasons-why
Baig, F., & Shahzad, S. U. (2022). Impact of social media influencer’s credibility dimensions on consumer behavior: An empirical study related to influencer marketing on Pakistan’s fashion industry [Independent thesis, Jönköping University].
Bargh, J. A., & McKenna, K. Y. (2004). The internet and social life. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 573–590. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141922
Beninger, K., Fry, A., Jago, N., Lepps, H., Nass, L., & Silvester, H. (2014). Research using social media: Users’ views (Research report). National Centre for Social Research, 1–40.
Bhattacharya, S., Hoedebeck, K., Sharma, N., Gokdemir, O., & Singh, A. (2017). “Smiling depression” (an emerging threat): Let’s talk. Indian Journal of Community Health, 31(4), 433–436. https://doi.org/10.47203/IJCH.2019.v31i04.003
Bine, A. (2013, 28 October). Social media is redefining “depression”. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/social-media-is-redefining-depression/280818/
Black, A. (2022). Even in death she is beautiful: Confronting tuberculosis in art, literature and medicine. Granite Journal, 7(1), 1–14.
Bognar, Z. B., Puljic, N. P., & Kadezabek, D. (2019). Impact of influencer marketing on consumer behaviour. In G. Dukic, J. Clifford & D. Atkinson (Eds.), Economic and social development. 42nd International scientific conference on economic and social development (pp. 301–309). London.
Bonilla, Y., & Rosa, J. (2015). #Ferguson: Digital protest, hashtag ethnography, and the racial politics of social media in the United States. American Ethnologist, 42(1), 4–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.12112
Bucci, S., Schwannauer, M., & Berry, N. (2019). The digital revolution and its impact on mental health care. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 92(2), 277–297. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12222
Byrne, E., Kearney, J., & MacEvilly, C. (2017). The role of influencer marketing and social influencers in public health. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 76(OCE3), E103. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0029665117001768
Campbell, C., & Farrell, J. R. (2020). More than meets the eye: The functional components underlying influencer marketing. Business Horizons, 63(4), 469–479. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2020.03.003
Campbell, C., & Grimm, P. E. (2019). The challenges native advertising poses: Exploring potential federal trade commission responses and identifying research needs. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 38(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/0743915618818576
Chen, L., & Yuan, S. (2018). Influencer marketing: How message value and credibility affect consumer trust of branded content on social media. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 19(1), 58–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2018.1533501
Cheung, D. (2018). When did having a mental illness become cool? Inkspire. https://inkspire.org/post/when-did-having-a-mental-illness-become-cool/-KB0PgCBTrhCdmavWTLC
Collier-Reed, B. I., Ingerman, Å., & Berglund, A. (2009). Reflections on trustworthiness in phenomenographic research: Recognising purpose, context and change in the process of research. Education as Change, 13(2), 339–355. https://doi.org/10.1080/16823200903234901
Dang, C. (2018). Instagram impact: Creating exposure for mental health awareness [Master’s thesis, Dominican University of California].
De Veirman, M., Cauberghe, V., & Hudders, L. (2017). Marketing through Instagram influencers: The impact of number of followers and product divergence on brand attitude. International Journal of Advertising, 36(5), 798–828. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2017.1348035
Dunn, E. R. (2017). Blue is the new black—How popular culture is romanticizing mental illness [Honours thesis, College of Texas State University].
Freberg, K., Graham, K., McGaughey, K., & Freberg, L. A. (2011). Who are the social media influencers? A study of public perceptions of personality. Public Relations Review, 37(1), 90–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2010.11.001
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Random House.
Jadayel, R., Medlej, K., & Jadayel, J. J. (2017). Mental disorders: A glamorous attraction on social media? Journal of Teaching and Education, 7(1), 465–476. https://www.universitypublications.net/jte/0701/pdf/V7NA374.pdf
Kgatla, L. (2019). How do black South African youth understand and cope with depression? [Master’s thesis, University of Johannesburg]. https://hdl.handle.net/10210/42123
Kien, N. T. (2015). Contemporary social interaction: How communication technologies alter Goffman’s dramaturgical model. Journal of Science Ho Chi Minh City Open University, 3(15), 72–83.
Liu, S., Jiang, C., Lin, Z., Ding, Y., Duan, R., & Xu, Z. (2015). Identifying effective influencers based on trust for electronic word-of-mouth marketing: A domain-aware approach. Information Sciences, 306, 34–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ins.2015.01.034
Marton, F., & Booth, S. (1997). Learning and awareness. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Mays, N., Popay, J., & Pope, C. (2007). Synthesising qualitative and quantitative health evidence: A guide to methods. Open University Press.
McCosker, A. (2018). Engaging mental health online: Insights from beyondblue’s forum influencers. New Media & Society, 20(12), 4748–4764. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818784303
Mijar, M. A., & Manaf, A. M. A. (2021). Eco-activist social media influencers (SMI) on Twitter: Does credibility matter? IIUM Journal of Human Sciences, 3(2), 15–26. https://doi.org/10.31436/ijohs.v3i2.197
Mueller, A. S. (2019). Why Thirteen Reasons Why may elicit suicidal ideation in some viewers but help others. Social Science and Medicine, 232, 499–501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.04.014
Naslund, J. A., Aschbrenner, K. A., Marsch, L. A., & Bartels, S. J. (2016). The future of mental health care: Peer-to-peer support and social media. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 25(2), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796015001067
Park, R. (1950). Race and culture. Free Press.
Patel, V., Saxena, S., Lund, C., Thornicroft, G., Baingana, F., Bolton, P., Chisholm, M., Collins, P., Cooper, J. L., Eaton, J., Herrman, H., Herzallah, M. M., Huang, Y., Jordans, M. J. D., Kleinman, A., Merdina-Mora, M. E., Morgan, E., Niaz, U., Omigbodun, O., Prince, M., . . . UnÜtzer, J. (2018). The Lancet commission on global mental health and sustainable development. Lancet, 392(10157), 1553–1598. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31612-X
Saxton, G. D., Niyirora, J. N., Guo, C., & Waters, R. D. (2015). #AdvocatingForChange: The strategic use of hashtags in social media advocacy. Advances in Social Work, 16(1), 154–169. https://doi.org/10.18060/17952
Schipper, H. (2022). Beautiful suffering? An analysis on young people’s narratives of their experiences with mental illness on TikTok [Master’s thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra]. https://repositori.upf.edu/bitstream/handle/10230/54871/Schipper_2022.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Schlebusch, L. (2005). Depression and suicidal behaviour. South African Family Practice, 47(5), 61–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/20786204.2005.10873234
Shrestha, A. (2018). Echo: The romanticization of mental illness on Tumblr. ECHO, 5(1), 69–80.
Smith, J. A., & Osborn, M. (2008). Interpretive phenomenological analysis. In J. A. Smith (Ed.), Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods (pp. 53–80). Sage. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470776278.ch10
Versamis, E. (2018, 13 June). Are social media influencers the next-generation brand ambassadors? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2018/06/13/are-social-media-influencers-the-next-generation-brand-ambassadors/
World Health Organization. (2005). Promoting mental health: Concepts, emerging evidence, practice. Geneva: World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9241562943
World Health Organization. (2012). Depression, a hidden burden: Let’s recognise and deal with it. Geneva: World Health Organization.
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2024-09-25
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Kgatla, L. (2024). From Activism to Influence: Unpacking the Romanticisation of Mental Illness Online. Social and Health Sciences, 22(2), 23 pages . https://doi.org/10.25159/2957-3645/12408
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