The Essence of Adolescence: How Mental Health Campaigns on Social Media are Helping to Break the Stigma Surrounding Adolescent Mental Health
Social media has become an integral part of American’s everyday lives. According to the Pew Research Center at the beginning of April 2021, 7 in 10 American adults reported using some type of social media (Auxier and Anderson). Social media use is especially high when it comes to teenagers and adolescents (youth aged 10–19). Social media can have many benefits when used carefully and thoughtfully, but it has many downfalls when it comes to the effect it has on adolescent’s mental health. Adolescence is a period of change when young people have many new experiences and learn to express themselves in new ways. Adolescence is also a time when young people often develop mental health disorders such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression. In fact, half of all mental disorders develop by the age of 14 but often go undiagnosed and therefore untreated (“Adolescent Mental Health.”). When left untreated, mental health conditions in children and teens can lead to behavioral and long-term health issues. There are many reasons why a child may go undiagnosed, but it often has to do with the lasting stigma that surrounds mental health in the United States.
Although many aspects of social media may have negative impacts on adolescent’s mental health, the addition of social media to this important period of growth in a young person’s life has allowed for an increase in accessibility to information and communication about mental health disorders through mental health campaigns like The Depression Project and Jansport’s #LightenTheLoad initiative. The type of “many-to-many communication” that these campaigns facilitate allows for teens to gain knowledge of possible symptoms, coping mechanisms, ways to comfort someone, and other useful resources, while also creating networks that allow for a more honest and open line of communication and conversation. These two things are the first steps in breaking the mental health stigma that adolescents face when trying to reach out for help.
Mental Health and the Complexity of Growing up with Social Media
Adolescence is a very challenging time. The World Health organization defines adolescents as individuals in the 10–19 years age group. (“Adolescent Health.”) In a paper written by The World Health Organization, adolescence and young adulthood is explained as “a key phase of establishing independent identity, making educational and vocational decisions and lifestyle choices as well as forming interpersonal relationships.” (Stengård and Appelqvist-Schmidlechner, 3) With that being said, the experience that young people have when entering adolescence has completely changed compared to previous generations with the development of social media. Owning a smart phone and using social media has become a social norm among American teens. According to a survey conducted by the PEW Research Center in 2018, 95% of teens age 13–17 say they own a smartphone or have access to one. In the same survey, 45% of respondents said they are online almost constantly, and another 44% said they go online at least several times a day (Anderson and Jiang). It is obvious that most teens partake in some sort of social media usage, but there are many different reasons why teens may be attracted to social media. For example, apps like Instagram, Facebook, Tik-Tok, and Snapchat can be used for entertainment, obtaining information about news/current events, self-expression, staying connected with friends and family, creating social networks, and so much more.
With that being said, social media is not all fun and games, especially when referring to the evolving minds of adolescents. The ability to communicate 24/7 is often seen as a necessity because having accessibility to it is so commonplace. But this, coupled with the fact that most content is available at all times of the day, can sometimes be a detriment. In a journal article written by Guinta and John about the effects of social media on adolescent health, it is stated that, “Social media may influence psychological distress through communication overload and reduced self-esteem”. The paper goes on to talk about how reduced self-esteem and life dissatisfaction is often due to adolescents comparing themselves to others, whether it is because they feel they are not “pretty enough”, or because they’re not satisfied with the material things they or their family can afford (197). Another well-known detriment of social media is the abundance of cyberbullying. Because of the ease of communication, the speed at which things can spread online, and the fact that bullies can hide behind a screen with a sense of anonymity, cyberbullying is a serious and hard to tackle issue. A 2016 report from the Cyberbullying Research Center indicated that 33.8% of students between the ages of 12 and 17 were victims of cyberbullying in their lifetime (Quora).
Knowing the pressures that social media can put on an adolescent’s mental health is just one reason why the mental health of adolescents is an important issue to acknowledge. Mental health in general is a very serious concern when it comes to adolescents and young people all around the world. 16% of the burden of disease and injury in adolescents is accounted for by mental health conditions, and in people aged 15–19, suicide is the third leading cause of death. (“Adolescent Mental Health”) As described before, adolescence is a period of maturing, evolving, and self-discovery. This period of change leaves young people at a higher risk of developing a mental health disorder due to new pressures and challenges they face in everyday life (Stengård and Appelqvist-Schmidlechner, 3). In a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center on teens ages 13–17, 61% said that they feel pressure to get good grades, while about 30% said they feel pressure to look good and to fit in socially (Horowitz, Menasce, and Graf). Obviously, different people experience different everyday challenges, but when looking at this survey it seems as though academic pressures are a lot of teen’s worries these days, especially when it comes to plans post-graduation. In the survey, 59% of teens said they plan to attend a four-year college when they finish high school (Horowitz, Menasce, and Graf). This can put a lot of pressure on a student to feel they need to get the best grades and participate in as many extracurricular activities as possible to make themselves look like the “perfect” student when applying to colleges.
Adolescents themselves realize that mental health issues like anxiety and depression are extremely abundant among their age group. In the same survey conducted by the Pew Research center, 7 in 10 teens see anxiety and depression as major problems among their peers (Horowitz, Menasce, and Graf). This awareness is extremely beneficial for teens who may be struggling and are looking to their peers for support. But at the same time, many are unable to seek further professional help when they need it. There is still a very large stigma surrounding mental health in the United States which creates a significant barrier in seeking mental health resources. This is a serious problem since if mental health disorders in children and adolescents go untreated, it can create even more serious problems. In a journal article written by DuPont-Reyes et al. about the mental health stigma in adolescence, it is stated that “Untreated mental illness in adolescence can result in social, behavioral, and academic problems, worsening of symptoms or impairment, other health comorbidities, suicide-related behaviors, and adult onset of chronic disease” (202). If this is true, how can we tackle the problem of under diagnosis of mental health disorders among adolescents?
Well, even though social media can cause a lot of problems when it comes to adolescent mental health, it also has the same potential to do good. The type of communication that social media allows for is completely different than anything previous generations have ever experienced. When social media is used in a thoughtful way, it has the potential to allow for broader networking and the vast spreading of important information. Latha et al. discuss how with the expansion of technology in today’s society, social media has proved in many cases to be more effective in spreading awareness and educational materials on socially relevant topics than face-to-face communication. This is because social media has the ability to “facilitate many-to-many communication instead of the traditional personal one-to-one communication and one-to-many communication” (125). Many-to-many communication has played a key part in the radical shift that has occurred in the dynamics of communication and work culture (Latha et al. 125). It creates new networks of people who share a common interest, and also allows for groups of people to share information on the same topic at the same time.
When it comes to mental health, the benefits that many-to-many communication creates can be used by delivering “mental health campaigns for promoting acceptance, enhancing knowledge, and encouraging help-seeking behavior” (Hui et al., 2). Not only is social media a good place for this to happen because of its ability to spread information, but it’s also the perfect place for these types of campaigns to be targeted at adolescents due to their high social media usage.
Mental Health Campaigns on Social Media.
There are many ways that these types of campaigns can benefit young people, but Latha et al. discuss in their paper how, “Social media publishes thought-provoking material which influences adolescents to search for information on positive health behavior.” (127). They also talk about how adolescents can learn about issues and experiences that may affect their mental health through information posted on social media. Added awareness gives adolescents signs to watch out for that may indicate it is time to reach out for help. In fact, Hui et al. state in their paper that, “mental health literacy is listed as one of the important factors for strengthening help-seeking intentions for mental disorders among adolescents” (2). Therefore, mental health campaigns on social media are extremely important when it comes to spreading facts and resources about mental health to encourage adolescents to not struggle alone. Mental health campaigns of this kind are becoming more and more abundant as the struggle that adolescents are facing regarding mental health becomes more evident.
One example of a social media campaign that aimed to improve the mental health of adolescents was the Jansport “Lighten the Load” campaign. This campaign occurred on Instagram in May of 2020 during Mental Health Awareness Month. Jansport held weekly Instagram Live sessions on the @jansport Instagram account where young people could tune in to watch experts and professionals in the field of mental health talk to influencers about their own struggles and how they #lightentheload. The campaign was targeted at Gen Z to create open conversations about mental health (Keane).
The video that Jansport posted on YouTube at the start of the campaign is a compilation of young individuals talking about the different stressors and expectations that they face in their everyday lives. This is a perfect example of many-to-many communication at work. The many different experiences that are shared in the video were meant for other young people to hear and encourage them to share theirs as well. A slogan the campaign used was “if you’re not sharing it, you’re carrying it” referring to the benefits of sharing your struggles with others so you do not have to go through them alone. #Lightentheload is now an integral part of the Jansport website where you can find links to mental health resources and other more personalized initiatives like The Trevor Project which is aimed to provide support to LGBTQIA+ individuals.
Because Jansport is such a large backpack brand it makes sense that their target demographic was in fact Gen Z, or the most recent generation of children born after 1997, who are mostly in school or recently entered the work force. They were in fact successful in doing so, as their campaign video now has almost 1.5 million views on YouTube. The conversations that Jansport was able to start about mental health did just what Hui et al. said mental health campaigns should do. They posted Instagram stories and reels with facts about adolescent/Gen Z mental health, supportive quotes, and resources to look in to if you want to seek help. This created an avenue for young people to become informed about mental health issues and become more self-aware about their own struggles and how/why they might want to share them with others.
Recently on Instagram, the account @realdepressionproject has also acquired a large following. Currently, the account has over 1.3 million followers. Their posts provide information about different mental health issues and advice for overcoming the struggles that come along with them. I do not follow this account, but I, like many of my peers, am very familiar with their posts, as quite a few of my followers from Swarthmore College often post @realdepressionproject’s content on their Instagram stories every day. On their website www.thedepressionproject.com it is listed that they have followers from 139 countries, including both their Facebook and Instagram accounts, and their posts have been interacted with (liked, shared, commented on) over 2 billion times. (“This Is How You Overcome Depression.”)
The Depression Project’s posts are very insightful and informative, but the comment section is also filled with people sharing their stories and encouraging/relating to others. For example, on one of their recent posts (on April 23, 2021) about the “Hidden behaviors of someone who self-harms” one comment from user @_capers_ states: “Just being there next to me, giving me a hug, not trying to solve my problems but listening, has been enough to help me get through the hardest times with self-harm.” The post itself was liked by over 30,000 people and the entire 216 comments are comments like @_capers_’s and people asking questions like “could you go into (explain) the different types of self-harm?” The types of conversations that The Depression Project provokes with their posts are great examples of both Hui et al.’s idea of what an effective mental health campaign should aim to do, and Latha et al.’s idea of social media allowing beneficial many-to-many communication. This Instagram account run by an entire movement has created a sort of community where people feel safe enough to share their experiences, and in turn make connections with people that may be dealing with similar struggles.
Although the Lighten the Load Campaign and the account run by The Depression Project have their differences when it comes to the types of content they post, over all they serve the same purpose: to educate young people about mental health and create a place where they feel comfortable to create a conversation of their own. When adolescents are unable to express themselves and their emotions or unable to reach out to people for help, communication is broken altogether to the point that many often end up feeling isolated and helpless. Therefore, the many-to-many communication that social media campaigns create are incredibly important when it comes to breaking the stigma and improving adolescent mental health as a whole.
Conclusion
Because of social media’s ability to facilitate many-to-many communication, it allows for the spread of mental health campaigns such as #LightenTheLoad and The Depression Project to occur rapidly and reach a much larger audience than they could through any other platform. As discussed, mental health of adolescents in America is a large concern, but the fast spread of information and educational materials on mental health disorders and the access to resources that these social media campaigns provide are helping to break the stigma that surrounds mental health. Breaking the stigma is the first step to breaking the barrier that young people face when seeking diagnosis and professional help. Social media is available at all hours of the day, seven days a week, and because so many adolescents actively use social media, it is a reliable way to reach them. Adolescents and young adults can access the information put out by mental health campaigns any time they want/need it.
There is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to improving adolescent mental health, especially when it comes to self-image and self-esteem on social media. The campaigns discussed in this paper are just the start. There are also other initiatives happening on social media, especially when it comes to clothing brands and body positivity. Many brands have stopped heavy editing on their photos and including non-conventionally attractive people in their advertisements, encouraging viewers to embrace their stretch marks, cellulite, and other things society might deem as “imperfections”. Although it might sound cliché, when it comes down to it, no one is perfect. It is normal for adolescents to be stressed, overwhelmed, depressed, or even feel as though they are not good enough, but what matters is that they have a place to turn to when they are feeling this way and they are able to learn to cope with these types of feelings.
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