Social Media and Mental Health

- Sambrita

At what point does our screen become our reality?

Mental health is the new "buzz-phrase" in town. We are all very aware of mental health, of the highs and lows it brings to a person's life. While it is true that, as compared to even half a century before, the idea of mental health has become less stigmatized and less taboo. It is now not an uncommon occurrence to see people discussing matters related to mental health, holding seminars, organizing workshops, at a more public level. The influence of technology and social media on this shift cannot be denied. As the world has zoomed into the palms of our hands, concepts and ideas associated with mental health have increasingly entered the daily vocabulary of common people. Instead of being limited to psychiatric institutions, mental health and mental illnesses are now finding wider levels of discussion and debate even in everyday conversation.

Make no mistake, mental health as a whole is still very much a stigmatized product in society. In India, even in the most posh, elite spaces, being mentally ill still garners side-eyed looks and conversations in hushed whispers. What has perhaps happened is, social media and the discussions regarding various elements of mental health on such platforms has given people access to the language to talk about these things. While acceptance in regards to such issues is slowly gaining more ground, the first step has been the increased familiarity with elements of mental health and an engagement with content catered towards individuals suffering from various issues.

However, this has not always been devoid of issues. Instead, over the last couple of years, social media depictions of mental illnesses and mental health matters has been undergoing certain changes. Mental health has now become commercialized. It has become a "trend", with platforms like Instagram and TikTok users generating vast amounts of content generalising various issues. Matters such as anxiety, depression, etc., instead of being seen as issues that need to be addressed, have slowly started morphing into factors some individuals treat as personality traits as posed on social media platforms. Conversations like "everyone has depression nowadays", while valid, misses the actual point. Given the present social systems of capitalism and the increasing lean towards right-wing fascism, it is very natural for individuals to develop mental issues. It is not always personal or inter-personal factors that contribute to a person's mental condition, but the wider social, political, economic and cultural environment too plays a role. Thus, it is very natural for individuals under such oppressive systems to develop psychological issues. Where social media fails us is, it turns very real mental health matters into gimmicks to be profited off. While the institution of medical psychiatry is not devoid of problems itself, social media and increased exposure to social web platforms leads to the further complications in the matter. Social media portrays an "ideal" way of being mentally ill, at times generalising or even making a caricature out of individuals suffering from mental illnesses. While social media provides the space for people to share their experiences and find community, it also tends to portray psychological issues more as a manufactured trait than very real conditions people live with. Due to this, the entire online image of mental health and its depictions get tainted. This, in turn, makes it harder for mentally ill people to reach out and ask for help. Especially for individuals with issues such as personality disorders, schizophrenia, and other such disorders which get termed as "scary" by social media, expressing themselves and asking for help becomes a more arduous process. Social media’s treatment of mental health, thus, is a double-edged sword- while it provides us with a platform to gain community, it may also turn us into one-dimensional figures or caricatures.