In Europe, 20% of teenagers suffer from mental health disorders (according to the WHO), a worrying issue that we cannot ignore. Yet, despite these numbers and the analysis, one must ask how mental health is perceived by us, teenagers? Social media are one of our main channels of information, but how is mental health addressed there?
The different ways of testifying
Young people use humour by following some trends or raising awareness on other aspects of mental disorders. Those testimonies seem to find an audience since they manage to reach thousand and millions of views. (On the left bottom, K stands for thousand and M for millions).
“Me, arriving at my meeting at the psychologist, saying ‘I’m fine’, when I was wondering 5′ ago if I should have taken the bus, or if it should have taken me.”
Source: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGebch6KP/
“The reality of depression”
Source: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGebcM7kc/
However, this deconstruction of taboos by young people is not controlled and leads to the glamourisation of some troubles or habits. For instance, the « cutting », a form of self-mutilation (scarification, burning…) is widely addressed on TikTok and presented as a safe place. Those practices are staged through trends anchored in a positive aesthetic, one of them being the « coquette aesthetic » that praises a positive and girly community represented by a pink bow. Self-mutilation is then glamourised and reduced to this little sign added on the video.
Some brands are also creating commercials to sell products inspired by mental health disorders. For instance, “UNI/VERE PARFUMERIE” sells perfumes paying tribute to obsessional disorder, eating disorders and compulsory disorders. Those videos are not always the most viewed, but they remain a risk for teenagers who are exposed to them. They contribute to the rise of hospitalisation caused by self-mutilation practices, which have increased by 63% among girls aged 10-14 years old since 2021 (DREES, 2024)
Despite young people being in majority active on social media, they are not the only ones to raise their voices. Less popular, some psychologists try by themselves to promote a professional viewpoint.
The professionals
In England, Dr. Julie creates videos on TikTok that are seen by 4,7 million followers on TikTok. In France, Delphine.py”, psychologist like Dr. Julie, intents to “destigmatise psychology”.
Many other mental health professionals spontaneously raise their voices by following the rules of social media and their trends. Yet, most of them don’t reach as many viewers as Dr. Julie. On these platforms, the rules are easy: we want a stage. It must be aesthetic, catchy and one can identify oneself. The form matters more than the content itself. The visual quality of professionals being less equipped in terms of light or editing can explain the audience gap.
Media and influencers
When talking about social media, we must mention their representants. If youth seem to lack voices, some young celebrities fully mastering the codes of social media have decided to play this role over the last few years. Lena Situations, a French influencer aged 26 years old and worldwide known, often talks about the anxiety she suffers daily. She even mentioned her stay at the hospital for an ulcer caused by stress in 2023. In the UK, Madeline Argy, 24 years old and influencer, talks about her eating disorders, her anxiety and depression. These young personalities are thus taking action virtually, but not only. Indeed Marine LB, a 26-years-old YouTuber is also concerned by anxiety, not only on social media but also in reality. She has created some “safe places”, noticeably in famous events, such as the Lollapalooza festival. These “’safe places’ are created for anyone concerns by mental health in festival and who would feel the need to take a break” explains the festival on its Twitter account.
The topics
Social media reflect far too often the reality. In France, the government develops various awareness campaigns on school harassment through concrete actions (programs, interventions). Yet, there also exist lots of content about it virtually. For instance, the French masculine football team created a campaign that had success, not for its content, but for the poor performance of the players, leading to trends that were mocking the campaign. But the essential being dissemination, the mission worked in some sort as more people were introduced to harassment through its humoristic downward slide.
Another common topic on social media appears to be school pressure. According to Sud Ouest, it is the main factor of anxiety amongst French teenagers.
The limits
Social media are far from perfect, their downward slides impacting the way the topics are addressed.
Indeed, to boost their content, platforms create the promulgation of hashtags. Mental health disorders and their causes are then used to promote a video or life aesthetic, just like the hashtag “toxic study motivation” for instance.
In addition, several videos are not produced by professionals, which contributes to the dissemination of false information, and consequently, incorrect self-diagnosis. With this system of filters and algorithms, another problem arises: if we pay no interest, we don’t see the content, and reversely, we can be overwhelmed by all the information and, thus, develop a negativity bubble.
Therefore, the male population is less touched on social media. According to a study by DREES, in 2023, 2000 young men have been hospitalised for self-mutilation compared to 10 000 girls of the same age. When you search for « mental disorders » on TikTok, you can already observe the difference on how the topic is dealt with. About 1 video on 7 is created by men.
Does it mean that boys are less concerned?
Well, not really. We simply noticed different behaviours between young girls and boys. A study by Place des Sciences showed that mental health disorders amongst men tend to be expressed through “irritability, and even a certain tension or aggressivity in personal relationships”.As a result, they would tend to consume more addictive substance to calm these tensions, and thus, being more concerned by addictions. But this aspect is little explained both in real life and on social media.
In conclusion, despite selling catchy and short formats, social media leave the complexity of the topic and nuance out and ultimately fail to reach the part of the population that most needs this awareness-raising.
Written by Alexis, 16 years old
Sources
Hazo, J.-B., Pirard, P., Jollant, F., & Vuagnat, A. (2024). Hospitalisations pour geste auto-infligé : une progression inédite chez les adolescentes et les jeunes femmes en 2021 et 2022. DREES, Études et Résultats, (n° 1300). https://drees.solidarites-sante.gouv.fr/240516_ERHospiGestesAutoInfliges.
Sud Ouest. (2024, 30 janvier). Près d’un adolescent sur deux touché par l’anxiété, selon une nouvelle étude. https://www.sudouest.fr/sante/pres-d-un-adolescent-sur-deux-touche-par-l-anxiete-selon-une-nouvelle-etude-18360647.php?csnt=190c66738e6
ONU. (2021, 17 novembre). Santé mentale des adolescents. https://www.who.int/fr/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health
Worms-Ehrminger, M. (2023, mars 4). Santé mentale des hommes : les garçons pleurent aussi. Place des Sciences. https://placedessciences.fr/blog/2023/03/04/les-garcons-pleurent/