Social inclusion and the Fatosphere: the role of an online weblogging community in fostering social inclusion

Dickins, Marissa; Browning, Colette Joy; Feldman, Susan; Thomas, Samantha

doi:10.1111/1467-9566.12397

Cited by 38 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Research also supports the use of social media to foster social inclusion or peer-to-peer connection among patients who might otherwise feel excluded, for example, patients with obesity 48 or mental illness. 13 Individuals with mental illness report greater social connectedness and feelings of group belonging when using social media in this manner, because they foster the ability to share personal stories and strategies for coping with challenges.…”

Section: How Can Social Media Be Used To Promote Improved Health?mentioning

confidence: 91%

Children and Adolescents and Digital Media

Chassiakos¹,

Radesky²,

Christakis³

et al. 2016

Pediatrics

832

530

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Today's children and adolescents are immersed in both traditional and new forms of digital media. Research on traditional media, such as television, has identifi ed health concerns and negative outcomes that correlate with the duration and content of viewing. Over the past decade, the use of digital media, including interactive and social media, has grown, and research evidence suggests that these newer media offer both benefi ts and risks to the health of children and teenagers. Evidence-based benefi ts identifi ed from the use of digital and social media include early learning, exposure to new ideas and knowledge, increased opportunities for social contact and support, and new opportunities to access health promotion messages and information. Risks of such media include negative health effects on sleep, attention, and learning; a higher incidence of obesity and depression; exposure to inaccurate, inappropriate, or unsafe content and contacts; and compromised privacy and confi dentiality. This technical report reviews the literature regarding these opportunities and risks, framed around clinical questions, for children from birth to adulthood. To promote health and wellness in children and adolescents, it is important to maintain adequate physical activity, healthy nutrition, good sleep hygiene, and a nurturing social environment. A healthy Family Media Use Plan (www. healthychildren. org/ MediaUsePlan) that is individualized for a specifi c child, teenager, or family can identify an appropriate balance between screen time/online time and other activities, set boundaries for accessing content, guide displays of personal information, encourage age-appropriate critical thinking and digital literacy, and support open family communication and implementation of consistent rules about media use.

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Section: How Can Social Media Be Used To Promote Improved Health?mentioning

confidence: 91%

Children and Adolescents and Digital Media

Chassiakos¹,

Radesky²,

Christakis³

et al. 2016

Pediatrics

832

530

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The fatosphere has been shown to impact individual understanding of the causes and consequences of the fat body and its acceptability to positive psychological effect (Betton et al, 2015;Dickins, Browning, Feldman, & Thomas, 2016;Dickins, Thomas, King, Lewis, & Holland, 2011;Harding & Kirby, 2009;Lillis, Hayes, Bunting, & Masuda, 2009). Therefore, this online discourse could hold positive implications for the future lived experience of fat people, but can only impact those outside of the fatosphere if these messages can be presented more widely.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Size acceptance: A discursive analysis of online blogs

et al. 2018

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Dominant discourses of "fatness" and "fat people" have implications for physical and mental health. Although alternative discourses such as '"size acceptance" exist, there has been little consideration of the ways in which these alternative arguments (and speakers) may be positioned in order to be heard. Using a discursive thematic analysis, the current research demonstrates that size acceptance online bloggers have created a community online that enables them to persuasively provide alternative claims to "expertise," which positions their views as credible and legitimate alternatives to those of more established authority-figures-such as health professionals. This has implications not only for the lived experience of fat people, but also for researchers by emphasizing the importance of exploring not just what is said, but how, if we are to understand how different articulated positions are to be persuasive.

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“…as a medicalised issue pertaining to personal responsibility, and a physical and moral deviation from a thin norm). However, rather than article itself we concentrate on the comment corpus generated by users in response to this article, as the comparatively underexplored counterpart to the 'top-down' analysis of institutional media publications (egDickins et al, 2016;Heuer, McClure and Puhl, 2011;Rich, 2011;Saguy, 2013;Saguy, Frederick and Gruys, 2014;So et al, 2016;Warin, 2011). Though Dickins (2013) undertakes a similar investigatory approach to an online user-generated comment corpus, our interest is motivated around both the thematic content of comments and their relationship with the original article as well as the ways in which that thematic content is driven and shaped by the affordances of the medium within which it is generated (i.e.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Doing stigma: Online commenting around weight-related news media

Brooker

Barnett²,

Vines

et al. 2017

New Media & Society

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Weight stigma results from the mediatisation of 'obesity'; conceptually, a medicalised problem resulting from personal bodily irresponsibility. We undertake a frame analysis of 1452 comments on a thematically-related online news article published via The Guardian, about the status of 'obesity' as a disability in EU employment law. We identify three themes: weight as a lifestyle choice or disability; weight as an irresponsible choice, and weight as a simple or complex issue. We contend that the design of the commenting platform prevents counter-narratives from challenging the dominant ('obesity') framing for three reasons: content is driven by comments appearing earlier in the corpus; the commenting system primarily supports argument between polarised rhetorical positions, and the platform design discourages users from developing alternative terminologies for producing counter-narratives. In this way, we explore how weight stigma is propagated through online media, and how users' comments intersect with the affordances of the platform itself.

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Social inclusion and the Fatosphere: the role of an online weblogging community in fostering social inclusion

Cited by 38 publications

References 59 publications

Children and Adolescents and Digital Media

Children and Adolescents and Digital Media

Size acceptance: A discursive analysis of online blogs

Doing stigma: Online commenting around weight-related news media

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