Disconnected Both Offline and Online: Identity Construction in an Online Depression Community in China

Abstract

Today’s China presents a paradoxical scenario where remarkable economic prosperity coexists with escalating mental health challenges, particularly the alarming prevalence of depression among the youth. Many adolescents in China held a reluctant attitude toward the use of mental health services. Instead, they resort to expanding online depression communities (ODCs) across social media as an alternative means of communication about their depressive experience. This study observes a group of young people who

frequently confide their depressive emotions and stories under a dead stranger’s Weibo page called ‘Zoufan’ (走饭), the largest unmanaged ODC in China. Employing small stories research methods, it describes and interprets how the participants construct their individual and collective identities in the ‘progress paradox’ of Chinese society. A total of 2,000 comments from the top 20 core participants of ‘Zoufan’ were analysed by drawing on the Social Identity Theory (SIT). The findings reveal that when

the core participants constructed their individual identity, their comments conveyed three recurring themes of ‘lacking’—support, ‘eligibility’, and associations in their offline lives. When they constructed their collective identity, their comments reflected three connotations related to personal intimacy with the late Ms. Ma/Zoufan, which, however, lack genuine connections with other community members online. The discussion and conclusion highlight a painful state of disconnection that these individuals experience both offline and online, drawing attention to a sense of alienation and further revealing the underlying socio-cultural issues that permeate Chinese society.