McCosker, A. and Gerrard, Y. (2021) Hashtagging depression on Instagram: Towards a more inclusive mental health research methodology. New Media and Society, 23 (7). pp. 1899-1919. ISSN 1461-4448
Abstract
Heavily used hashtags on Instagram and other platforms can indicate extensive public engagement with issues, events, or collective experiences. This paper extends existing research methods to paint a fuller picture of how people engage collectively with public issues online. Focusing on Instagram content often deemed 'problematic', we develop and test what we call a 'hashtag practice' approach. This approach targets the hashtag #depressed, but also moves beyond it to: a) incorporate the posts immediately preceding and following a root post, b) more inclusively sample content associated with the hashtag to combat filtering bias, c) consider collocated hashtags, and d) draw on contextual cues in the interplay between posts' visual content, captions and profile management. The method shows the prevalence and significance of aesthetic and memetic practices, and caution in embodiment in mental health posts, revealing more diverse forms of engagement with mental health on Instagram than previous research suggests.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2020. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in New Media and Society. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Instagram; depression; mental health; hashtags; digital methods; memes |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Sociological Studies (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 Apr 2020 11:17 |
Last Modified: | 25 Nov 2021 14:11 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/1461444820921349 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:159334 |
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Filename: Hashtagging depression on Instagram_Revised Feb 2020.pdf
Licence: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0