Mental Health – Not Not Communicating by Michael Rabby

By Tiffany Duran

As someone who struggles with anxiety, I often think about what could be causing my anxiety to occur and what behaviors to avoid that otherwise raise my anxiety levels. Most recommendations say avoid behaviors like drinking caffeine or being exposed to stressors. Recently there has been a high emphasis on decreasing social media use to decrease personal problems such as anxiety. However, current studies also show factors other than social media use that can increase these personal problems.

Photo by
Mehmet Turgut Kirkgoz through Creative Commons License

Iannattone et. al surveyed 721 Italian students (466 girls and 250 boys) ranging from 6^th grade to 9^th grade,. looked to explore the link between 5 main concepts:

Boredom

Problematic social media use

Emotional dysregulation

Internalized problems (anxiety, depression)

External problems (substance use, rule-breaking-behavior)

They theorized that:

High emotional regulation difficulties were directly related to high levels of internalizing and externalizing problems, as well as to high levels of boredom and problematic social media use

High levels of boredom and problematic social media use predicted high levels of internalizing and externalizing problems

They found that those who had higher rates of emotional dysregulation were more likely to experience boredom, and those that experienced boredom were more likely to have problematic social media use and internal and external problems. They suspect that children use social media as a way of emotional regulation, as it offers immediate gratification and relief from negative affective states. Their findings suggest that those who have emotional regulation difficulties have a hard time handling boredom, which may lead to them using social media as a regulator. High emotional regulation difficulties give way to problematic social media use which may increase internal and external problems.

Acknowledging this connection between boredom, problematic social media use, and internal and external problems will help us understand the underlying reason behind personal problems such as anxiety. Recognizing our own emotional regulation difficulties may help explain the internal or external problems we experience. Instead of painting social media use as the bad guy causing all our problems, perhaps we should look more inward and take responsibility for our inability to properly handle our own emotions and behaviors, ulimately changing the approach to problems we face.

Iannattone, S., Mezzalira, S., Bottesi, G. et al. Emotion dysregulation and psychopathological symptoms in non-clinical adolescents: The mediating role of boredom and social media use. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 18, 5 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-023-00700-0

By Brianna McMillan

For Black men, speaking about poor mental health is seen as a sign of weakness, but celebrity and mass media discussions chip away at this harmful narrative.

In this exploratory study, health communication researcher Diane Francis examined 1,482 tweets with the hashtag “#YouGoodMan” that arose as a result of Kid Cudi’s 2016 announcement on his depression diagnosis, which included having suicidal thoughts, and receiving treatment. #YouGoodMan was created to check in on Black men and engage them in discussions about their mental health. This study asks the question, “What were Black men saying about their mental health in these conversations and what factors influenced them to speak up?” In these Twitter conversations, three main themes that the study emerged:

Disclosure of mental health – Discussion of mental health conditions, diagnosis, medication, symptoms, and treatment.
Supplying support online and offline –
- Emotional – Users showed large amounts of compassion and support toward Black men expressing their emotions and being vulnerable.
- Network – Discussion of how these men are not alone, community is accessible on Twitter. Users stressed how important it is to convey support to Black men seeking help and to fight to end the stigma surrounding this.
- Informational -Users provided information about mental health resources such as websites, crisis lines, text services, apps, social media platforms, therapy services, etc.
Acknowledgement of cultural and societal impact
- Black men are raised to not express emotional vulnerability, vulnerability is seen as weakness.
- Many religious Black families believe prayer is all that is necessary, professional help is looked down upon.
- Rap and hip-hop artists are now more commonly talking about mental health issues in their music and are positively impacting Black men’s mental health.

Pulling from theories that explain how substantial media coverage and celebrity influence on a topic causes discussions in online communities that influence attitudes towards the topic, Francis’ findings further support this evidence. Many celebrities have openly spoken about their mental health problems, but what differs with Kid Cudi’s disclosure is the extreme media coverage and hashtag that followed, which opened the conversation for Black men to speak on their mental health struggles in a safe, “judgment-free” space.

Mass media coverage, combined with celebrity coverage on the topic of mental health, influences conversations online and can provide beneficial tools for seeking help. Young African Americans extensively use Twitter, so using culturally specific hashtags, such as #YouGoodMan, with the combination of ethnic celebrity influence is an effective way to engage young Black men in conversations about their mental health. Hip hop and rap have a large impact on the community of young African American men. This information indicates that rap could be a culturally effective way to start conversations about mental health in the Black community. By adding more content surrounding mental health into lyrics, rap artists can play a large role in starting individual and community wide conversations, which can help to change societal beliefs and stigmas surrounding Black men and mental health.

Francis, D. B. (2021). “Twitter is Really Therapeutic at Times”: Examination of Black Men’s Twitter Conversations Following Hip-Hop Artist Kid Cudi’s Depression Disclosure. Health Communication, 36(4), 448–456.