We have never talked so much regarding the importance of taking care of our mental health, but what do we do when the resources are inaccessible? According to a Concordia University researcher, many women are turning to Instagram for soothing tools.
According to the most recent data from the government dashboard, more than 20,500 people are waiting for mental health services in Quebec. No wonder these people, on their own, seek help wherever they can find it.
We can blame social networks for all the evils, but these platforms are now part of our lives. In the opinion of Fanny Gravel-Patry, what matters is to develop a digital literacy to evacuate the negative and find the content that suits us.
This is exactly what the twenty or so women interviewed in the context of his research led to the publication of the article “”A series of little high fives”: mental health and digital habituation in women’s Instagram practices” in the journal “Feminist media studies”.
We learn that, for lack of other means, these women find refuge online and form a sort of community of support. Whether they are struggling with anxiety disorders, eating disorders, trauma or even suffering physical problems, they find positive, stimulating content offered by other women experiencing the same difficulties or by professionals offering science popularization.
These women tend to develop a form of routine that the doctoral candidate in communications describes under the concept of “habituation” in English. A term that might be translated as an addiction.
Practically, when they experience an episode of distress or feel the need, they refer to pages of soothing content that helps them better manage their discomfort.
«When we talk regarding mental health problems and recovery, we will put a lot of emphasis on strategies or healthy lifestyle habits to manage stress and take care of yourself.», explains Fanny Gravel-Patry.
She believes that informed use of online content, especially on Instagram, “can become a protective factor”.
The researcher also wishes to highlight the importance of focusing on women’s media practices, which have been neglected for too long.
«The knowledge they produce through that content was seen as unimportant, she notes. I wanted to highlight the importance of the knowledge they produce and of listening to what they have to say.»
For Ms. Gravel-Patry, the accounts of these women on social networks must be taken seriously by the authorities. They testify to real needs for services and recognition.
Too often, women do not feel listened to by healthcare professionals who seek to deny their condition or minimize the seriousness of their ailments. Social networks therefore become an escape route to be heard and find support.
Warnings
Although her research focuses on the benefits that women can find on Instagram, the researcher wishes to point out that it is not the platform that is positive in itself, but the use that is made of it.
«You have to keep in mind that it is a platform that has a lot of power and that its algorithms also have a big role to play in the accessibility of content.“, she mentions.
“The platform is not really interested in the well-being of the women who use it“Adds the one who is also a lecturer.
We must also be aware that “there are structures of power and functioning which escape us and which are difficult to circumventon social media. Thus, we arealways likely to encounter content that may disturb and shake».
Hence the importance of developing digital literacy to separate the wheat from the chaff in the chaos of social networks.
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Ugo Giguere, The Canadian Press
