Instagram is a ridiculous lie factory

This article explores the way in which social media and its relation to mental health is metaphorically conceptualized in newspaper opinion discourse. We discuss the extent to which metaphoric expressions are used creatively and whether they convey positive or negative evaluations. For this purpose, a 10,000-word sample of opinion articles from two British newspapers was collected and analysed. The main research questions are: (1) How is social media conceptualized? (2) To what extent is social media conceptualized by means of creative expressions? (3) Are social media metaphors more likely to be evaluative or non-evaluative? If so, what is the predominant value? (4) How are mental health and well-being conceptualized? (5) Do authors identify positive or negative effects of social media on mental health and well-being? Results show that the main source domains used to conceptualize social media are person, drugs, place, object, war, journey and competition. Creative social media metaphors typically make use of the person, drugs and place source domains, and evaluative metaphors more frequently project a negative evaluation.