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| Finding Social Support in Social Media
Brittany Torrez, Yale School of Management Being a graduate student is never easy, regardless of the region, discipline or program stage. Social isolation, uncertain and amorphous benchmarks of success and general feelings of inadequacy are likely to create conditions rife with mental health stressors. However, being a first-generation underrepresented racial minority (URM) graduate student compounds all of these stressors that already make being a graduate student so challenging. My parents didn’t attend college, let alone graduate school; this makes me the first in my family to have completed higher education. I am the first and only underrepresented racial minority in my program. Because of my status as a first-gen URM student, impostor syndrome can take on a different form. That is, even though most graduate students fear being exposed as not belonging in academia (i.e., impostor syndrome), many first-gen URM graduate students, like myself, have the added anxiety of others realizing this lack of belonging is due to their race and/or first-gen status. Given the compounding effects of imposter syndrome as a first gen URM, it takes some serious ganas to walk into classrooms and seminars where you’re the first and only Latina that has been in that space. Adjusting to predominantly white institutions (PWIs) can be tough. It is often exhausting to confront the lack of representation in academic spaces that then reinforces the idea that I (and others who share underrepresented identities) do not belong. Luckily, I was able to identify strategies to successfully navigate these spaces as a first-gen URM. It can get lonesome to feel like you have no crew, allies, support, or other forms of backup on a daily basis. While I hope that the academy will continue to prioritize the institutionalization of intentional spaces for more underrepresented graduate students of color, I am writing to share the informal support systems that have helped me cope with impostor syndrome and with lacking a sense of belonging in graduate school. Social media has consistently been a source of connection for me throughout my doctoral program. I have used many forms of social media to connect with other first-gens and graduate students of color across various disciplines, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and GroupMe. These outlets were invaluable for me in my first year as these communities helped to connect with relatable peers, gain informal advice from older graduate students, and to find a space to celebrate accomplishments. For any incoming students, or even more senior graduate students who share my cultural identities or who actively feel like they do not belong in their respective spaces, below are some tips and strategies I have found useful in my experience. I would like to preface this by saying that these are some social media-based techniques that may have only worked for me in my particular situation. Everyone has their own way of coping, but I would strongly encourage others to share their strategies as I share mine!
Overall, using social media has provided a means for community-building, collaboration and celebration. For first-generation graduate students or more established scholars of color, social media has created a space to convey experiences related to navigating our identities in PWIs and to foster sense of belonging among those who feel isolated. It has increased my confidence, my sense of belonging, and offered a new lens through which to reframe my impostor syndrome. Rather than constantly questioning whether we deserve to be here, we must first ask whether academia deserves to have us! Abrazos,
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