Instagram and end of life. Exploring the mediational role of social networks in young cancer patients through a case study

The growing prominence of social networks has changed the field of death by allowing people to share their personal experience of dying or surviving the death of loved ones. This paper features a case study through which we examine the mediational role of new technologies in end-of-life experiences in young cancer patients. The case study revolves around an Instagram account created by a young Spanish woman after being diagnosed with a cancer that would ultimately end her life. The thematic analysis carried out on the 196 posts focuses on three of the main topics addressed in the account: (1) the visibilisation of cancer and its impact on the daily lives of young patients; (2) the life lessons learnt from the experience of cancer; (3) a critique of the traditional imaginary of cancer, understood in terms of an individual struggle, together with the denunciation of the lack of social protection for young cancer patients. Ultimately, the analysis shows how Instagram acts in this case as a mediational tool through which the account’s creator not only relates to her community of followers, but also to herself and to her own illness, giving rise to different meaning-making and self-regulating functions.