Relating 4 new media concepts to mental health

by | Feb 4, 2012 | mental health | 4 comments

Blimey…  my head is simultaneously bursting with my attempts to retain a whole load of new media literature and crushed by the realisation that my brain is way out of practice and needs significant re-tuning.   My discovery of the pomodoro technique  and app (free) has definitely helped me focus though and I’d recommend it to any other PhD procrastinators…   I’m beginning to think about how new media literature relates to issues that arise for me in a work context when thinking about social networking by people with lived experience and/or working in mental health services. Here are a few initial thoughts, questions and ponderings arising from a number of new media concepts outlined by Terry Flew in New Media: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2011). Digital divide – there’s lots of data out there about who isn’t and isn’t using social media. Who’s in and who’s out. I am curious about how people who are using our services are using social media? And what proportion of them are using social media to consume and produce information about mental health and wellbeing, for peer support, or to campaign? What’s the role of services in supporting digital inclusion and can we build this in to our care pathways?  How are staff within our NHS Trust using social media both personally and professionally? Are they making the connections and, if so, how? I plan to develop this thinking during the course of my research. Collective intelligence – I’m interested in the capacity of social media to expand collective knowledge and how, in particular, stories shared by people with lived experience of...