Diane Francis was an undergraduate college student at the University of the Virgin Islands in the early 2000s when social media was gaining prominence. She was introduced to what people were doing on the world wide web by professors who were studying the internet.
“I’ve always been interested in media and communication,” Francis says. “I love media for the fact that it introduces us to so many people’s lives and experiences, but I’ve (also) been attracted to the educational component of media.”Fifteen years later, Francis is the associate professor in the communications department at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. A health communication researcher with a focus on communication and health disparities, Francis studies mental health and social media among Black populations. During the pandemic, she recognized how forming connections to family and friends from all over the world was important. She noticed people interacting in various ways, such as attending virtual religious services and sharing images of food to gain deeper relationships with individuals they couldn’t see in real life. In a recent paper, “Twitter Is Really Therapeutic at Times: Examination of Black Men’s Twitter Conversations Following Hip-Hop Artist Kid Cudi’s Depression Disclosure,” Francis expounds on a critical discovery: When Black male celebrities share their personal stories about depression, medication and mental health, it opens a space for conversations among Black men, which she characterized as network support. In her discussion, Francis asserts, “Outreach to Black men regarding mental health has its challenges, but as shown in this paper, social media can be a powerful tool for understanding beliefs and practices among hard-to-reach populations.”Even with the positive discussions and networking gained through social media participation, the anxiety and stress associated with reading posts and being exposed to negative comments and news, Francis suggests regulating the amount of time spent on social media and having a clean understanding of what you’re accessing. “I consider social media to be a bonus as well as a bane for mental well-being and mental wellness,” Francis says. Social media literacy Kepios, a company that studies digital trends, revealed in an October 2022 report that more than 59% of the world’s population uses social media over 17 platforms. This number is most likely low because it doesn’t account for children under the age of 13. In the United States, according to a 2021 study by Pew Research Center, 72% of adults interact with at least one platform. Broken down by race, 80% of Hispanic people, 77% of Black people and 69% of white people report using at least one social media site. Francis recommends individuals increase social media literacy by checking the validity and reputation of a site when reading posts and watching clips on social media platforms. She wonders what viewers do when they encounter information on a platform such as TikTok that increases their anxiety: “Are you able to filter through these things and find things that improve your well-being? Are you able to understand and interpret what you find online?”Francis is currently studying levels of anxiety in young Black women who are social media users. “I can’t make the claim that it was their social media use that increased their anxiety or if there were already high levels of anxiety before and social media exacerbated that,” Francis says. “But there seems to be a correlation between the use and anxiety during that time. This might be a time when mental health professionals can come in and help young Black women.”
Vicarious trauma
In the past seven years, violent acts against Black individuals have been recorded and posted on social media, says Ashley Gilmore, licensed clinical mental health counselor and founder of Gilmore Counseling and Consulting Services in Durham, North Carolina. The vicarious trauma, the suffering felt by what’s happened to someone else, piqued Gilmore’s interest. “I started doing research around what vicarious trauma looked like for us related to seeing these images on the web consistently,” Gilmore says. “And the one thing about social media is, in certain places, they still live there. You can go back. It’s the vicarious trauma from watching these images over and over.”After George Floyd’s murder was replayed across the internet, Gilmore noticed how social media became a place for Black people to connect. “Everyone was posting images of being outside and protesting,” she says. “It became almost intoxicating.”The influx of images promoted Gilmore to research further. She made the connection between the images and videos posted on social media to the practice of mailing postcards, with photographs of Black people who had been lynched, across the country to white families. “Black bodies have essentially been victimized publicly for years,” she says. “Even now it continues.” In her practice, Gilmore asks clients what’s important about watching these videos and images, what emotions are triggered, what they are getting out of the experience and how they can change it. “Turn the phone off and then journal,” she explains. “Journaling is a really good tool to ask: What is this doing for your self-esteem? What are you learning?”Building boundaries Establishing boundaries around social media use can help clients find a healthy balance. Gilmore suggests logging off for the day or setting time limits on the phone, like turning it off before heading to bed. “(And when you are logged in) know … not to compare yourself to other pages or people,” she says. “Recognize who you are and learn from the (posts). Be careful who you follow. And it’s OK to unfollow or block.”Some of Gilmore’s clients follow her on social media, where she posts affirmations and selfcare information. “We can set the example for how we want our clients to show up on social media,” Gilmore says. “What we post makes a difference. I think it’s OK for our clients to follow us on our business pages or to interact with us in a professional setting, if they feel comfortable. I think it’s important that we set the example for how we engage social media, when we show up on social media professionally and we can model that for our clients.”
First published in Black Mental Health Today, Winter 2023 (Vol. 6).