ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author considers LGBTQ+ young people’s accounts of digital media use for mental health support. The author engages with data from two separate Australian studies of LGBTQ+ young people. The author acknowledges but builds on that work to consider not just how young people access peer communities, but how peers support each other beyond traditional roles of friendship, as per everyday practices of anonymous care and support among invested peers. It considers research discussions of LGBTQ+ young people’s information and support seeking, and how a discourse of “help-seeking” may limit the ways the people understand digital and social media interactions and networks and how these foster cultures of care. Echoing sentiments expressed throughout this book, it is important to remember that young people are not “going online” to find support, as they already occupy digital spaces and platforms.
