Title of Study: The Relationship between Social Media & Mental Illness

Principal Investigator: John Murphy, Digital Media & Design Assistant Professor in-Residence

Student: Cat Boyce, Digital Media & Design Graduate Student

The following data is conducted from the survey: The Relationship Between Social Media & Mental Illness. The main goal of the survey is to analyze how social media users participate in conversations about mental illness online and whether or not they believe social media applications, influencers, and brands should be involved in the conversation.

The questions below are simultaniously being asked in a participatory piece at The Benton gallery at UConn. The data from that will be then analyzed in comparision with the data below as well as more data from the study. Please check back to see the progress and thank you for your participation!

What Gender do you identify with?

Looking at the data, dryastically more females responded than males. This will be compared to the information that is gathered from the participatory piece in the gallery to see if more females also participate. It brings up the question as to whether or not females are more likely to engage in conversations surrounding mental illness.

Have you ever personally experienced a mental illness?

With over 650 responses to this question, the vast majority (477) answered yes they have personally experienced a mental illness with only 175 indicating that they have not.

I am more likely to engage in conversations about mental illness when they take place:

The question asks "I am more likely to engage in conversations about mental illness when they take place" and prompts the reader with four options: online, in person, not at all, and I am equally as likely to engage in conversations in person as I am online. From this sample size, the data shows that people are more likely to engage in conversations in person or both online and in person. This data is also being gathered at The Benton gallery to compare online gathering of data vs. in person.