Pathological Processes Among Content Creators on Social Media: Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Digital Media Studies
• Psychology

Background:

• Content creators (CCs) experience unique occupational hazards, including psychosocial and ergonomic risks.
• Prolonged work hours, sedentary behavior, public scrutiny, and job insecurity contribute to health issues.
• Continuous connectivity and unpredictable tasks exacerbate risks for CCs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review identifying potential pathological processes affecting social media content creators.
• To synthesize existing literature on the health impacts experienced by CCs.

Main Methods:

• Scoping review of literature from seven major bibliographic databases.
• Search terms: "Content Creator" and "Pathologic Processes" (May 2024).
• Quality assessment using STROBE, evidence level via Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, and bias evaluation with ROBINS-E.

Main Results:

• Six studies were selected from 1522 references, involving diverse CC roles (influencers, bloggers, YouTubers, live streamers).
• Reported health impacts included burnout, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, chronic pain, and unspecified mental health issues.
• Mental health was the most frequently affected area across reviewed studies.

Conclusions:

• Mental health is significantly impacted among content creators.
• There is a critical need to identify specific risk factors contributing to pathological processes in CCs.
• Further investigation is required to develop preventative strategies for identified health issues.