“I think you’d rather listen to an influencer than a doctor”: How teenage girls make meaning of influencers’ mental health advice’

The article takes inspiration from childhood studies and child audience research to examine teenage girls’ meaning-making of popular female social media influencers’ videos in which they advise their followers on mental health issues. Using the methodology ethnography for the internet and analysing girls’ reactions to video clips, the study demonstrates that they construct influencers’ mental health content both as relatable, authentic experience stories, and as the commodification of mental health. While the girls admire and find support in the influencers, they also adopt a critical stance toward them, their commercial collaborations, and societal phenomena beyond digital platforms.