"It's Too Much On Top of Your Own Food Drama": Exploring Food Allergy Identity and Experience Through Social Media

This paper provides an in-depth view of people’s experiences with food allergies, focusing on their social media use and its influences on healthy habits and identities. Through 18 interviews, our study examined how information and identity work on social media influences health behaviors, social interactions, self-expression, and navigation of algorithms for those with food allergies. Social media functions as both a source of empowerment and community and a platform for stigma and emotional distress. Our findings highlight how individuals manage their food allergy identity and online visibility on algorithm-driven platforms. The concept of “on-and-off identities” is introduced to capture this complex identity work. Design considerations for HCI include: 1) creating mindful social media experiences that support agency while addressing vulnerability in identity and information work, and 2) reflections on the challenges of evolving health contexts and social media ecologies. We urge HCI researchers and designers to adopt a holistic perspective on identity and information work to better support marginalized populations.