Surviving online: How young creatives are navigating the mental health minefield of Social Media to
- slingshotmagazine
- Mar 11, 2019
- 3 min read
by Susanna Joseph
Before notoriety was synonymous with going viral, young creatives faced a very different landscape in hopes of achieving success in their field. Comedians may land themselves a job on one of America’s biggest late night talk shows from their Twitter calibre; while being picked up by a major music publication was a foot in the door for bands, now, their biggest hit could ensue from being played in the background of an internet celebrity’s Instagram Story.
It’s a strange new world. And statistically, quite a brave one for all those choosing to exist online. Studies released last year have offered incriminating details on the long-term effects of Facebook and Instagram on users’ mental health. But despite feelings of depression and inadequacy being known side effects of frequent use, more young people than ever are logging on.
For instance, according to statistics released in June 2018, of Instagram’s 1 billion monthly users, 41 per cent are 24 years of age or younger. Young creatives of all disciplines are finding that whatever their field, there’s a social media that will boost their profiles, if they’re willing to put in the time and effort. Writers and comedians head to Twitter, while those interested in visual arts post on Instagram.
“If you’re an artist or musician, if you’re not online it’s almost like you don’t exist.” Jonquil Lawrence is a 24-year-old musician in London. “People are going to [ask] where they can follow you. What’s your @, where’s your Soundcloud, where can I find your music. How else are you going to expand your audience? Other than doing shows. But even if you did a tour across England, afterwards people are going to want to follow it up. If they can’t find you, then your audience isn’t going to grow very much. You have to, almost.” It can be a damaging space, but many feel it necessary. “As much as we’re all struggling with mental health issues, you also have to be online for all of the jobs we want to do.”
Unlike its peers, Instagram could be described as the ‘aspirational’ social media site. Users seem to be aware that a lot of the content they are seeing is engineered and fabricated, but that doesn’t stop them being affected.
In a survey undertaken for this article, respondents aiming to work in a creative field claimed they knew about the synthetic element of the lives they saw communicated in posts online, but it didn’t stop them from feeling bad about their own in comparison. Words like ‘inspiration’ and ‘drive’ were frequently touted in explanation of why they found themselves religiously checking the site, but a spark of creativity can quickly lead to a fire of self-doubt and inadequacy.
A study published last year in the journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture found that the comparisons inspired by Instagram between ourselves and everyone else made the site more taxing on our brains than other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
While it seemed that many of those accessing Instagram for professional reasons as well as personal were aware of the toll it can take mentally, they also said they would have an extremely hard time changing their behavioural patterns. 82 per cent of respondents answered affirmatively when asked if they would spend less time on social media without it impacting their career or goals.
To read Susanna's investigation into the online world pick up a copy of Issue 1.
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