Digitalized Existential Meaning-Making
On the Interaction Between Social Media, AI, and Young Women's Existential Health: From Analysis to Future-Oriented Design
About the Project
This project investigates the interaction between social media, so-called artificial intelligence (AI), and young women's existential health. It is a doctoral project in the field of Human-Computer Interaction, with an interest in the role of technology in shaping human consciousness and well-being. In Sweden, young women are the most frequent users of social media, and this group has also seen a rise in reported mental health issues.
The project addresses concepts such as meaningfulness, hope, wholeness, wonder, and transcendence—collectively referred to as existential health. This can be described as experiences of direct well-being or an enhanced capacity to cope with distress, all of which relate to existential meaning-making. Existential meaning-making involves processes of reflection, conceptual systems, experiences, and actions in relation to existential questions.
We examine the use of social media and its connection to aspects of existential health over time, as well as the architecture of interfaces and AI-driven feeds on social media. The culmination of the work focuses on young women's own future-making through speculative, creative, and participatory workshops where the design of social media with the explicit aim of promoting existential health is explored. This process is also informed by expert knowledge generated during emotionally-focused workshops with participating AI (or machine learning) researchers, as well as through interviews with clinically practicing psychologists and psychotherapists.
Purpose
The purpose of the project is to investigate the interaction between the use and design of AI-driven social media and the existential health of young women in Sweden. We ask:
- How do different social media platforms, types of interaction, and time spent on the platforms correlate with existential health among young women aged 15-29 in Sweden over time?
- What kind of arena do AI-driven social media platforms, such as TikTok, provide for digitalized existential meaning-making based on their design and attributes?
- How do young women envision future and alternative social media platforms that are deliberately designed to promote existential health?
- How do AI researchers and clinically practicing psychologists and psychotherapists assist young women in co-creation, when emotionally-focused knowledge is generated through expert workshops?
Project participants: PhD student Lauren Richter supervised by Lina Eklund, Emma Hovén and Yvonne Andersson (Mediemyndigheten).
Project financed by: Private donation and the Swedish Research Council.
