Callaghan, J. (2013) Research in online spaces: 'Tumblr' and eating 'disorder'. Symposium presented to: Children and Young People's Mental Health: Improving Outcomes, Widening Access and Tackling Stigma in an Age of Austerity, The University of Northampton, 03-05 July 2013. (Unpublished)
| Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item (Symposium) |
|---|---|
| Abstract: | Online communities, social media sites and personal messaging have become significant spaces for interaction, self expression and the construction of identities for young people in contemporary culture. Most research on young people online tends to focus on the negative aspects of online interaction – for example focusing on bullying, sexual victimization and ‘internet addiction’. Much attention has also been paid to the role of the internet in the promotion of ‘disordered’ eating – the emergence of the pro-ana movement in online spaces. Key to dominant understandings of ‘eating disorder’ amongst young people, and particularly young women, is the notion of secrecy. Calorie restriction (and particularly self-starvation), excessive exercise, and purging behaviours have historically been understood in mental health contexts as hidden experiences, practiced in secrecy . In this paper, I explore the visual and interactive formats enabled through social media platforms, and the way that these might be seen as shifting the nature of ‘eating disorder’ amongst contemporary young people. I focus on the platform ‘Tumblr’, a blogging platform that is very specifically marketed for young people and young adults, which incorporates the intensively interactive but highly individualized elements of social media associated with twitter with a highly visual format. Within this format, I suggest that young people’s engagement with disordered eating is shifting in form, and that this is evidenced by a particular kind of performativity in evidence in tumblr postings about eating and weight management. This paper will not engage in further pathologisation of either the internet or ‘eating disorder’, but instead will explore the internet as a cultural space and a community of practice, within which specific practices of eating and body management are constructed and performed |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Eating disorder, CAMHS, qualitative research, research online, visual methods |
| Subjects: |
R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics > RJ499 Mental disorders. Child psychiatry > RJ506.E18 Eating disorders in children T Technology > T Technology (General) > T14.5 Social aspects T Technology > TK Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering > TK5101 Telecommunication > TK5105.888 Web development. Blogs. Wikis. RSS feeds. Twitter |
| Creators: | Callaghan, Jane |
| Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: |
University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Research Group > Mental Health and Counselling Research Group University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Research Group > Social and Cultural Research in Psychology Group University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > School of Social Sciences (to 2016) University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Faculty of Health & Society > Psychology Faculties > Faculty of Health & Society > Psychology Research Centres > Centre for Psychology and Social Sciences |
| Date: | 3 July 2013 |
| Date Type: | Presentation |
| Event Title: | Children and Young People's Mental Health: Improving Outcomes, Widening Access and Tackling Stigma in an Age of Austerity |
| Event Dates: | 03-05 July 2013 |
| Event Location: | The University of Northampton |
| Event Type: | Conference |
| Language: | English |
| Status: | Unpublished |
| Related URLs: | |
| URI: | http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/5570 |
Actions (login required)
 |
Edit Item |
Altmetric
Altmetric
Altmetric