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Workshop: Navigating social media as young people living with chronic physical conditions
Led by: Emma Berry from the Social Media Use Among Young People with Type 1 Diabetes and the Influence on Mental Wellbeing Project
This workshop sought to stimulate conversations about the impact of social media on mental wellbeing in young people living with Type 1 diabetes, and to consider how this extends to other chronic health condition contexts. The aim was to collate ideas about the implications of current and future research directions surrounding social media and mental wellbeing in young people living with a chronic physical condition.
Three key messages:
- Social media has a paradoxical role in the lives of young people living with Type 1 diabetes.
- Young people feel more autonomous to access condition-related support online.
- Yet navigating condition-related content online can feel emotionally challenging to process.
This workshop was connected to our Embracing Complexity research challenge: How can we best meet the needs of children and young people who have intersecting needs and face complex situations?
Artwork by Tom Bailey (@tombaileyart).
Further Resources
Workshop Live Tweets
You can read a great thread from Tom Sharpe who was live-tweeting the session via @yp_MHstigma.
Thread: Welcome to the big #EmergingMinds workshop by @EmmaBerry90 on Navigating social media as young people living with chronic physical conditions. @Tomsharpe here live tweeting from the room. @EmergingMindsUK @qubpsych @QUB_CIHRQoL
— Young People & Self-stigma in Mental Health (@yp_MHstigma) October 17, 2022
Workshop aims:
— Young People & Self-stigma in Mental Health (@yp_MHstigma) October 17, 2022
1.This workshop aims to stimulate conversations about the impact of social media on mental wellbeing in young people living with Type 1 diabetes (I will present findings from recent research). #EmergingMinds @EmergingMindsUK @qubpsych @QUB_CIHRQoL
2.We will also collectively explore how this extends/applies to other chronic health condition contexts. #EmergingMinds @EmergingMindsUK @qubpsych @QUB_CIHRQoL
— Young People & Self-stigma in Mental Health (@yp_MHstigma) October 17, 2022
3.We will collate ideas about the implications of current research and gather ideas about future research directions surrounding social media and mental wellbeing in young people living with a chronic physical condition. #EmergingMinds @EmergingMindsUK @qubpsych @QUB_CIHRQoL
— Young People & Self-stigma in Mental Health (@yp_MHstigma) October 17, 2022
#EmergingMinds @EmergingMindsUK @qubpsych @QUB_CIHRQoL pic.twitter.com/EFNabBroBJ
— Young People & Self-stigma in Mental Health (@yp_MHstigma) October 17, 2022
@EmmaBerry90 "caregivers felt they were not supported enough to facilitate conversations about social media" #EmergingMinds @EmergingMindsUK @qubpsych @QUB_CIHRQoL
— Young People & Self-stigma in Mental Health (@yp_MHstigma) October 17, 2022
Young people were able to harness social media without revealing their condition #EmergingMinds @EmergingMindsUK @qubpsych @QUB_CIHRQoL pic.twitter.com/ldCELPaib5
— Young People & Self-stigma in Mental Health (@yp_MHstigma) October 17, 2022
Social media algorthyms can be overwhelming because they show lots of health, diet and diabetes and also lots of people with diabetes only show their good days. #EmergingMinds @EmergingMindsUK @qubpsych @QUB_CIHRQoL pic.twitter.com/JJAtFaRqnX
— Young People & Self-stigma in Mental Health (@yp_MHstigma) October 17, 2022
Workshop: pic.twitter.com/ri1vyPiNOl
— Young People & Self-stigma in Mental Health (@yp_MHstigma) October 17, 2022
@EmmaBerry90 is talking about the impact of diabetes on particularly adolescents including: Insulin dependency, have to check their hands and feet, calculating the carbs and injecting insulin and the scars from that. #EmergingMinds @EmergingMindsUK @qubpsych @QUB_CIHRQoL
— Young People & Self-stigma in Mental Health (@yp_MHstigma) October 17, 2022
"Diabulemia" – a term coined to mean those that deliberately don't inject enough insulin in order to lose weight and feel better about themselves and cause themselves to become sick very quickly. #EmergingMinds @EmergingMindsUK @qubpsych @QUB_CIHRQoL
— Young People & Self-stigma in Mental Health (@yp_MHstigma) October 17, 2022
A cartoon has been developed with the young people out of the themes from research. #EmergingMinds @EmergingMindsUK @qubpsych @QUB_CIHRQoL https://t.co/qtBCmEo7I5
— Young People & Self-stigma in Mental Health (@yp_MHstigma) October 17, 2022
Discussion in the room have included discussions on truth and social media and how that impacts those looking for solutions for their health and how social media can be an echo chamber for wrong ideas. #EmergingMinds @EmergingMindsUK @qubpsych
— Young People & Self-stigma in Mental Health (@yp_MHstigma) October 17, 2022
For the 13-20 year olds (mainly 16 and up) that were part of the project showed that the older young people were more open to disclosing due to be used to the stigma. #EmergingMinds @EmergingMindsUK @qubpsych
— Young People & Self-stigma in Mental Health (@yp_MHstigma) October 17, 2022