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Mental Health as A Cultural Trend Among Gen Z Culture
Subject area: Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities · Area of research: Mass Communication and Journalism
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I11-1717419
Abstract
Conversations regarding mental health have become a popular trend among the Gen Z culture, this trend can be distinctly observed in the memes posted on Instagram, a social media platform. This research paper studies a sample of 49 memes from Instagram and its comment sections are analysed qualitatively to understand how topics related to mental health are created, framed and engaged with. Thematic coding is used to analyse the following sections - concept translation, trivialisation versus normalisation, framing and tone, collective identity and relatability, accuracy, misinformation and emotional expression. The findings conclude that complex mental health concepts are used in these memes in a very simplified tone in everyday language which makes it hard to distinguish these serious conditions from regular, normal stress. Humour is used as a dominant framing tone which increases the scale of relatability and emotional expression among the audience. At the same time, these memes lead to normalisation of the mental health conditions but in some cases they trivialise the extent of its seriousness. The analysis of the comment sections shows a pattern of engagement where the audience show a sense of collective identity and validation. This study uses the following three theories, Social Constructionism, Uses and Gratifications and Framing theory, to explain how these memes on mental health act as an awareness tool and help in transforming and understanding the meaning of mental health. Meme culture plays a dual role where it enables destigmatisation but also reduces the accuracy of clinical conditions in modern digital discourse.
Keywords
Mental Health, GenZ culture, Instagram memes, Digital Discourse, Relatability
How to cite this paper
@article{1717419,
author = {Debolina Kar, Monalisa G, Pritpal Kaur, Priyanka R, Shalini A; Dr. Bharghavi D. Hemmige},
title = {Mental Health as A Cultural Trend Among Gen Z Culture},
journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
year = {2026},
volume = {9},
number = {11},
pages = {1305-1317},
issn = {2456-8880},
url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1717419.pdf},
abstract = {Conversations regarding mental health have become a popular trend among the Gen Z culture, this trend can be distinctly observed in the memes posted on Instagram, a social media platform. This research paper studies a sample of 49 memes from Instagram and its comment sections are analysed qualitatively to understand how topics related to mental health are created, framed and engaged with. Thematic coding is used to analyse the following sections - concept translation, trivialisation versus normalisation, framing and tone, collective identity and relatability, accuracy, misinformation and emotional expression. The findings conclude that complex mental health concepts are used in these memes in a very simplified tone in everyday language which makes it hard to distinguish these serious conditions from regular, normal stress. Humour is used as a dominant framing tone which increases the scale of relatability and emotional expression among the audience. At the same time, these memes lead to normalisation of the mental health conditions but in some cases they trivialise the extent of its seriousness. The analysis of the comment sections shows a pattern of engagement where the audience show a sense of collective identity and validation. This study uses the following three theories, Social Constructionism, Uses and Gratifications and Framing theory, to explain how these memes on mental health act as an awareness tool and help in transforming and understanding the meaning of mental health. Meme culture plays a dual role where it enables destigmatisation but also reduces the accuracy of clinical conditions in modern digital discourse.},
keywords = {Mental Health, GenZ culture, Instagram memes, Digital Discourse, Relatability},
month = {May},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I11-1717419}
}