Welcome to the Social Experiment
The Social Experiment is a participatory journalism project designed to illustrate that social media can be a space that fosters creativity and connection if a person learns how to use the platforms properly. In the past, I was a victim of cyberbullying and developed an eating disorder - a direct result of improper social media usage - which discouraged me from posting. When I was trying to find a positive solution to navigating the social media realm and maintaining a sense of social connectivity, the only research I found advised readers to abstain from social media altogether. In other words, there was not an option to protect your mental well-being while on the platforms.
During the height of the pandemic, social media became my escape. I avoided the content that heightened my anxiety and focused on the content that helped me feel better during such unprecedented times. My favorite content creators were posting more because there was not much else to do, so I had a plethora of positive entertainment to watch. If it were not for the mental health awareness community of Instagram, I would have never known that my anxiety was not just Generalized Anxiety Disorder but a form of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), an ailment that has been confirmed with a professional diagnosis and treatment. When I was experiencing heightened feelings of distress during quarantine, I became aware of what content was causing those feelings. Instead of giving into my eating disorder, a disorder that worsens when I feel a loss of control, I focused my energies on connecting with friends and family on social media and creating my own content. Social media, for me, became my best distraction - even therapeutic and soothing.
Discovering this method of social media use where I only followed accounts that made me happy, I believe, is just one of many things I can do to make social media a place of opportunity, rather than reverting to my old habits of addiction that hurts my self-esteem and stops me from being productive. Furthermore, by doing the work and research on making social media a space of support, respect, learning, and connectivity, I will help others do the same.
Creative Project Overview
Over the course of 16 weeks, I vlogged my experience as an active social media participant. In a series of twenty-four vlogs, I monitored and recorded my mental state, detailing my experience as a social media user; noticing my bad habits, observing which posts help me and which posts harm me, how posting pictures of myself affects my self-esteem, how my emotions affected what I posted, and which platform suits me the most. Because I am addressing a public health issue, I believe that a website that is open to the public and easily accessible is the best avenue by which I share the contents of my findings and research. Each entry includes a vlog followed by an analysis of my findings.
To learn more about the research that grounded this project, click on The Research tab.