Ashlee Milton
Michael Ann DeVito
ABSTRACT
Social media platforms are a place where people look for information and social support for mental health, resulting in both positive and negative effects on users. TikTok has gained notoriety for an abundance of mental health content and discourse. We present findings from a semi-structured interview study with 16 participants about mental health content and participants’ perceptions of community on TikTok. We find that TikTok’s community structure is permeable, allowing for self-discovery and understanding not found in traditional online communities. However, participants are wary of mental health information due to conflicts between a creator’s vulnerability and credibility. Our interviews suggest that the “For You Page" is a runaway train that encourages diverse community and content engagement but also displays harmful content that participants feel they cannot escape. We propose design implications to support better mental health, as well as implications for social computing research on community in algorithmic landscapes.
Footnotes
1 These proprietary features use metadata about the survey takers (e.g., speed of completion, IP address) to assign a score that evaluates whether the survey taker is genuine in their survey taking. See https://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/survey-module/survey-checker/fraud-detection/
Footnote2 The interviewer used what they had learned from the video review and visual elicitation exercises to tailor the semi-structured questions to each participant based on their experiences, perceptions, and talking points.
Footnote3 rejection sensitive dysphoria is an intense emotional reaction due to the perception that a person has been rejected [9]
Footnote4 https://www.tiktok.com/@elle.argent/video/7080209086180085035
Footnote5 https://www.tiktok.com/@therapyjeff/video/7125511003986562347
Footnote6 https://www.tiktok.com/@yourkoreandad/video/7125117855258905902
Footnote7 https://www.tiktok.com/@connorcallec/video/7110728158692855041
Footnote
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Index Terms
- “I See Me Here”: Mental Health Content, Community, and Algorithmic Curation on TikTok
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