Publications by authors named "Mahala English"

Background: Social media platforms are increasingly used by people living with dementia and their care partners to seek information and advice, share personal stories, raise awareness, and offer support to others. Engagement with social media is often accompanied by a personal disclosure of a dementia diagnosis or identification as a care partner, but the impact of this disclosure remains unknown. Social media engagement can be beneficial by facilitating peer-interactions and social support; however experts have raised concerns about the potential for exposure to misinformation and stigma as a result of self-disclosure.

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Most social media platforms censor and moderate content related to mental illness to protect users from harm, though this may be at the expense of potential positive outcomes for youth mental health. Current evidence does not offer strong support for the relationship between censoring mental health content and preventing harm. In fact, existing moderation strategies can perpetuate negative consequences for mental health by creating isolated and polarized communities where at-risk youth remain exposed to harmful content, such as pro-eating disorder communities that use lexical variants to evade censorship.

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