The internet is so fun. We’re on it right now! And who doesn’t love two-day shipping, or videos of cute kittens, cuddling with ducks? And with over 90% of the population having access to the internet (Braghiere, Levy, & Makarin, 2022), and 100% of us reading this article right now, it’s a wide market for information and engagement.
One of the awesome things about the internet is how easy it is to stay connected to
people we love. I have family in other states that I can stay in touch with, and I can see
what they’re up to, and feel connected emotionally even when I can’t be there in person. And, we have this incredible opportunity to create community with people who have the same concerns and interests as us. We can link up with big groups of others who might also be dealing with loneliness, isolation, family problems, challenges related to queerness or gender identity, or mental illness. Creating that sense of community and maintaining those relationships can be so helpful in our overall life satisfaction, because we can do it all the time, we can engage with our community and our families (created or natural) and feel supported, validated, and loved every day- and what we do every day is vitally influential to our overall mental health (Ulvi, et al, 2022; Nesi, 2020).
The downside of that is, what we do every day influences our mental health in the other direction, too. Facebook has over 2 billion active users, every single day. Instagram has over 1 billion (Ulvi, et al, 2022). TikTok is catching up, with 755 million (plushcare.com, 2022). And while it is possible to build communities here that are full of support and encouragement, it is also highly likely that the influencers and accounts that seem to promote mental health might be leading down a completely unlit, and dangerous, path. There is no requirement that anyone on social media be credentialed to talk about the content they promote (Pretorius, McCashin, & Coyle, 2022), and this is true from makeup to cats to mental health and other medical concerns. A recent survey done by researchers at Plushcare (2022) showed that 83.7% of TikTok mental health content was “inaccurate at best,” and that over 14% of that had content that had the potential to be actively harmful. They also showed that only 9% of so-called mental health influencers had any relevant certification. They looked at several common mental health concerns and found that 100% of information related to ADHD was inaccurate, as well as 94% for bipolar disorder, 90% for depression, and almost 70% of trauma-related information was not accurate. Those are huge numbers of inaccuracy, especially considering the level of trust we put in the information they’re giving us.
One challenge is that literally anyone can call themselves a doctor, (Dr Dre, anyone?) as
long as they’re not selling medical advice, but that line is really, really blurry on social
media! What constitutes medical advice is a very murky area. And even some actual
doctors, like Dr Oz, who is a licensed medical doctor, will promote things that might lack credibility. And to muddy things up even more, other people might call themselves a doctor (anyone remember Dr Laura Schlessinger?) because they have a PhD, just not
one that’s relevant to what they’re talking about. A lot of content is presented for
entertainment value, or for self-promotion, to increase likes and followers, or
engagement- how many times have you watched an Instagram reel, or read the caption
on a post, that encouraged you to comment or like or share? It requires us, the
consumer of these videos and posts, to be so careful and discerning, which is hard when what we want is to know things! To find something that helps explain what we’re feeling, or what we can do, and to not feel alone, or like we’re weird.
I promise you, you’re not alone, you’re not weird, and there are things you can do.
Please, absolutely use socials to find your people, to find authentic connections because this absolutely helps cultivate a sense of belonging that can be incredibly protective (Nesi 2020). Learn about mental health, and what works specifically for you, because what works for you might not work for anyone else. You might use social media to discover new bands, and find that music helps you feel less angry, or find new ways of expressing your emotions with painting or drawing, or to learn to cook and find that this helps you manage boredom. So much of the mental health information on TikTok and
Instagram are things that used to be explored individually in therapy, but have been re-
packaged and over-simplified for a really broad audience and presented with no context whatsoever, (Pretorius, McCashin, & Coyle, 2022), completely ignoring that the real expert in your mental health is you. And if a particular influencer really resonates with you, that’s cool, too, because maybe they’re able to share stories that help us think about things in different ways, to think of different ways to cope, and to simply normalize that it’s ok to talk about our mental health, that it’s not weird to feel weird sometimes.
If you feel like you need to talk, please reach out.
If you are thinking about suicide, here are some resources:
National Suicide Hotline: 988
Trans Lifeline: 1-877-565-8860
Trevor Project: Text START to 678-678 or call 866-488-7386
If you’re in danger right now, please call 911
References:
Braghieri, Luca, Ro'ee Levy, and Alexey Makarin. 2022. "Social Media and Mental
Health." American Economic Review, 112 (11): 3660-93.
Nesi, J. (2020). The impact of social media on youth mental health: challenges and
opportunities. North Carolina medical journal, 81(2), 116-121.
Ulvi, O., Karamehic-Muratovic, A., Baghbanzadeh, M., Bashir, A., Smith, J., & Haque, U.
(2022). Social Media Use and Mental Health: A Global Analysis. Epidemiologia, 3(1),
11–25. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/epidemiologia3010002
Pretorius, C., McCashin, D., & Coyle, D. (2022). Mental health professionals as
influencers on TikTok and Instagram: What role do they play in mental health literacy
and help-seeking?. Internet Interventions, 30, 100591.
https://plushcare.com/blog/tiktok-mental-
health/?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=B3D9B82E9E5345818B2945AC05ABEAF1
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