Abstract:

For many adolescents, social media platforms are central spaces of self-presentation and social orientation. Trends, viral challenges, and constantly repeated images of “perfect” bodies, lifestyles, and identities shape how young people compare themselves with others and how they think about their own appearance and value. At the same time, AI-supported filters, and synthetic media increasingly influence what is seen online, often in ways that are not easily recognised as manipulated. Continuous exposure to such content can affect self-image and is linked to growing pressure around appearance, belonging, and performance, with potential consequences for mental health and overall wellbeing.

These developments are increasingly visible in schools. Many teachers report feeling overburdened by the speed of digital change and distant from the social media cultures that shape students’ everyday experiences. Rapidly evolving trends, challenges, and AI-based tools are difficult to address through traditional instruction, particularly when educators lack insight into young people’s online worlds.

This paper presents a creative and interdisciplinary learning approach that responds to this situation by shifting students from passive consumption towards active creation. Rather than focusing only on analysing social media content, participants are encouraged to design their own digital artefacts, such as memes, short videos, collages, and visual narratives. Through the creation of “counter-images”, they explore how platform aesthetics and dominant narratives shape perceptions of beauty, success, and identity, and how alternative and more diverse representations can be developed.

A central element of the approach is the involvement of young people in sharing their creative work and learning processes with peers. By taking on mentoring roles, participants deepen their own reflection while contributing to school-based learning spaces that move beyond teacher-centred instruction.

The paper focuses on the educational design of these creative learning environments, outlining how processes of exploration, production, and peer exchange are structured. It argues that creative media practice, combined with peer-based learning, can strengthen self-efficacy, critical awareness, and digital resilience, supporting healthier and more reflective relationships with digital self-image.

Keywords:

Education, digital wellbeing, creativity, peer-teaching, media literacy.