‘At first it was about me … now it’s not about me at all’: self-care and care for the other in the women-led online sobriety movement

Abstract

ABSTRACT In recent years, an alternative sobriety movement has emerged online, and it is primarily occupied by women. Research to date has explored how women using sober online spaces construct their identities in relation to traditional approaches to sobriety; it has yet to analyse how the women who create sobriety content navigate the cultural affordances of social media. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 11 sober content creators, this paper seeks to fill this gap. Findings highlight a threefold process experienced by participants as they move from using Instagram as a tool of self-care to one which provides for care for others. First, I show how participants use the platform to hold themselves accountable, by using Instagram as a ‘journal’ and for following other sober accounts for inspiration and support. Second, I analyse how participants traverse the shift from using Instagram as a personal accountability tool to one which offers support to others; for many this included making their previously private and/or anonymous accounts public and/or identifiable as theirs. Third and finally, I examine the consequences of this newfound visibility; how creators are interpellated as sobriety experts and confidants and how they manage the demands that come with caring for others.