Discreet Openness: Scholars’ Selective and Intentional Self-Disclosures Online

George Veletsianos, Bonnie Stewart

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Research into emergent forms of scholarship focuses on academics’ use of technology for learning, teaching, and research. Very little attention has been paid in the literature to scholars’ uses of social media to disclose challenging personal and professional issues. This article addresses the identified gap in the literature and presents a qualitative investigation into the types of disclosures that 16 scholars made online and their reasons for doing so. Results identify wide-ranging personal and professional disclosures. Participants disclosed not only about academia-related issues but also about challenges pertaining to family, mental health, physical health, identity, and relationships. Some scholars disclosed as a way to grapple with challenges they faced; others disclosed tactically, sharing information for political rather than personal reasons. Yet others disclosed as a way to welcome care in their lives. In all instances, though, disclosures were selective, intentional, and approached with foresight.

Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalSocial Media and Society
Volume2
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2016
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.

Keywords

  • academic mental health
  • higher education
  • networked scholarship
  • networks
  • scholars’ use of technology
  • social media

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