Written by Michelle Arnetta
Designed by Kiara Andressa
Due to the increasing popularity of social media, mental health has become a trending topic, rather than a taboo. The internet has therefore played a pivotal role in destigmatizing mental disorders...or so it seems. In the supposed wake of mental health stigma, romanticization is born. Today, mental disorders are often glorified instead of treated. People have started prioritizing individuality over therapy, some even going so far as to faking mental disorders. This ever prevailing romanticization begs the question: is the internet further stigmatizing mental disorders?
Besides that, social media is dominated by the teenage demographic. As they start to discover themselves, these teenagers tend to become engrossed in the struggle for individuality, causing them to collect labels to define themselves, usually based on what they enjoy. Unfortunately, some teenagers have been mocked or shamed, simply for doing what they like to do or what they label themselves as. The catalyst for this problem is none other than cringe culture: a trend of bullying people for having harmless interests that are nevertheless regarded as “cringy.”
Both of these problems have merged into a much more significant issue: Munchausen by internet, in which healthy individuals fake illnesses (such as mental disorders) on the internet. For example, teenagers might fake DID because roleplay is considered cringeworthy, or they might fake depression for people to take their emotions seriously. After all, mental disorders are labels that are impossible to mock--that is, at least without facing massive backlash--as well as a popular object of romanticization on the internet. Teenagers therefore tend to adopt these labels despite not actually suffering from a mental disorder, and it might end up in a subconscious mental health competition, wherein whoever has it worse wins. Teenagers tend to encounter the same problem with cringe culture and seek the same untouchable labels. This, along with social media algorithms, may lead them to confirm each other's biases and thus create echo chambers that only magnify the problem.
"But they're not harming anyone! They'll grow up and eventually realize that they're wrong." These words aren't foreign to the internet; they are, in fact, frequently used as a defense for faking mental disorders, despite being absolutely incorrect. For instance, Munchausen's sufferers manipulate the reality of mental disorders to fit their narrative of what these disorders should be in accordance with their identity. Doing so only contributes to the already rampant issue of misinformation on the internet. Besides that, it trivializes the conditions of people who genuinely experience mental disorders, thus adding to their stigma, or can even get them fakeclaimed (i.e. being claimed to have been faking their disorder).
On the internet, the lines between reality and lies have been blurred so much that not only people who fake mental disorders, but also people who actually experience them, get fakeclaimed. A common solution presented to this problem is to cease fakeclaiming completely. Unfortunately, this so-called solution would only discourage critical thinking and thus enable Munchausen's sufferers to trivialize mental disorders even more. If nobody, even experts, were allowed to make distinctions between falsehood and truth in regards to mental disorders, everyone could claim to have a mental disorder and be validated despite not showing genuine symptoms.
Although all of this could easily be fixed by a professional diagnosis, we must not neglect the fact that most of Munchausen's sufferers are minors who do not have access to such a diagnosis. Therefore, another way to approach this would be to strike at one of the primary roots of this issue: cringe culture. The fact that teenagers are forced to turn to faking mental disorders, only in order to avoid being deemed cringeworthy, is a crystal clear sign that cringe culture has reigned the internet for far too long. It shouldn't be so difficult to stop mocking people for their labels, for their hobbies, and for merely existing. Doing so would significantly reduce the problem of Munchausen by internet that runs all too rampant in today's society.
As for the people, who have fallen prey to cringe culture and currently suffer from Munchausen by internet, especially teenagers, it is not too late to stop. Please don't risk your future for temporary validation, and don't let cringe culture steal your youth away. Indulge in your hobbies, unashamedly and unforgivingly. Don't hide yourself behind a label that doesn't hold true. Live. Get yourself a reality check because you deserve it.
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