"Social Media's Dangerous Link to Disordered Eating"
Imagine for a moment that you are a seventeen-year-old girl sitting on the couch at home and scrolling through your social media feed. You scroll past an endless stream of people with perfect hair and makeup, and chiseled bodies. Feeling inadequate, you look down and pinch your stomach rolls. You feel an urge to skip your next meal or purchase the promoted diet and detox products shown on the screen. This is the harsh reality for many individuals influenced by the unrealistic body standards promoted on social media websites. As a sister to a seventeen-year-old girl and a young adult social media user, this writer has observed firsthand the dangerous link between increased social media usage and the rise in disordered eating behaviors. This paper explores the connection between social media usage and the development of disordered eating habits and introduces strategies for engaging with social media content in a way that minimizes the risk of adopting unhealthy eating behaviors.
Let's first look at how social media affects self-esteem and body image. Social media significantly influences users' perception of their body image and self-esteem. Globally, eating disorder diagnoses have more than doubled in the past decade ("Frontiers"). It is no coincidence that this increase in unhealthy eating habits comes with an increase in social media usage. Social media use was associated with a 50% higher prevalence of disordered eating behaviors in young adolescents compared to those with minimal social media exposure ("The Relationship"). Popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok present users with an endless stream of idealized body photos and videos. Viral videos tend to be of influencers with a full-time job to look good on social media. These influencers may spend several hours per day working on their bodies, which is unrealistic for the vast majority of individuals on the internet. Not only are these influencers being paid and gifted free products to help enhance their looks, but the posts are also often filtered or altered to appear more perfect than the influencer actually is in person.
Constant exposure to these filtered, fake and unattainable standards causes the social media user to have poor body image when looking at one's body in comparison. This causes users to develop feelings of inadequacy about their own appearance, leading to lowered self-esteem and a poor body image. The social media users start to see their bodies as inadequate or needing medical modification. Unhealthy eating habits then follow in order to obtain the "ideal" body. One study conducted by Aparicio-Martinez, Pilar et al. "Social Media" surveys a group of one hundred sixty-eight women with a mean age of twenty and finds that ninety percent of them regularly use social media. Ninety-three percent of the women who completed the survey wish to alter their appearance in three or more areas of their bodies by methodology of exercise, diet, or surgery ("Social Media" Results). This study diagnoses forty-three percent of the group with a disordered eating attitude. According to Holland and Tiggemann (2016), individuals who compare themselves to these edited images are more likely to view their bodies as flawed or in need of change.
Social media algorithms perpetuate the cycle of negative body image. When users interact with unrealistic body-related content, more of that kind of content appears on their social media accounts. Even if one creates a social media account to connect with friends, the algorithm makes it incredibly easy to scroll through promoted unrealistic posts. According to a 2023 survey conducted by Statista, teenagers spend an average of 4.8 hours per day looking at social media. The accounts viewed include edited photos and altered videos of perfect looking people with very low body fat percentages. One may see altered posts such as this on their "for you" pages day in and day out. This puts the user at risk for developing disordered eating habits.
Disordered eating is defined as "a range of irregular eating behaviors that may warrant a diagnosis of a specific eating attitude" ("The Impact") Some examples of disordered eating habits include restrictive eating or a low intake or avoidance of food; compulsive eating, or eating a large amount of food whether hungry or not; and irregular or inflexible eating patterns. In extreme situations, these unhealthy eating patterns may develop into clinically recognized eating disorders: namely binge eating disorder, a condition in which people don't feel able to stop eating and eat large amounts of food in one sitting; bulimia nervosa, a condition in which individuals lose control and eat large amounts of food only to "purge" or induce vomiting after; orthorexia nervosa, an unhealthy focus on eating in a healthy way; or anorexia nervosa, a disorder characterized by very low body weight and an intense fear of gaining weight (Mayo Clinic). Individuals diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa are five times more likely to die prematurely and eighteen times more likely to die by suicide ("Anorexia") Each of these are very serious unhealthy consequences to aiming to attain a perfect body image, and social media websites' flawed algorithm puts users in the position to become more exposed to content creators who promote extreme diets or workouts.
Watching this kind of content frequently throughout the day makes harmful eating behaviors seem normal. Users may start to think that eating one hundred percent healthy foods and too few calories to sustain current body weight is normal. As noted by Holland and Tiggemann (2016) "Exposure to idealized images on social networking sites is associated with increased body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors, highlighting the need for critical media literacy and mindful engagement with social media content"
Now that we understand how social media affects body image, let's examine its direct impact on eating behaviors. The development of disordered eating behaviors is directly correlated with the use of social media. Extreme diets and "quick fix" methods of weight loss are frequently promoted on influencer's social media platforms. Advertisements for various diet and detox products are constantly shown to users by social media creators. According to Faqihi et al. (2024), users are frequently exposed to advertisements for fad diets and detox products that promise quick results. Influencers with millions of followers promote these dangerous weight loss methods and take advantage of their audiences of young people who look up to them and strive to look like them. Some influencers promote severely restrictive diets and eating plans alongside their perfect edited bodies in attempt to make a sale of an eating plan or weight loss supplement. Others post calculated and unrealistic "what I eat in a day" video examples as a guide for their viewers that want to look like them. Many of these accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers are not educated as dieticians or personal trainers, but post these types of videos for views and interactions which translate to money in their pockets from the social media applications. These endorsements can lead tsocial media users to adopt unhealthy eating patterns such as caloric restriction in order to lose weight. Brands may pay the influencers to promote their products, thus the influencers advocate for and attempt to sell unregulated supplements or extreme exercise regimens. This takes advantage of consumers because it can drive social media viewers to purchase products that will ultimately be a waste of their money with little or no results. These products can be physically harmful to those who consume them, and the consumers may feel defeated when these "easy solutions" do not work for them. This defeated feeling can lower self-esteem and in turn cause the consumer to continue the cycle of engaging in unhealthy habits as they search for an unattainable result.
"Before and after" transformation posts are another example of common posts shared by social media influencers or so called "trainers" that can trigger disordered eating behaviors. These posts present a starting photo of someone who is often overweight alongside a photo showing the results of a dramatic weight loss and or muscle gain. These posts are misleading due to the lack of explanation of the time frame and methods of weight loss between the before and after photos. They are also often misleading, the person in the photo may have had bariatric surgery for example to assist them with weight loss, or undertaken cosmetic procedures such as liposuction. To make matters worse, the same before and after photos are copied and used by numerous accounts that all advertise different solutions. Whichever post happens to land on a consumer's social media feed based on the algorithm may be the one that causes the consumer to take action. These types of posts often will endorse a diet, a weight loss product, or a workout plan the account is attempting to sell. Users may feel pressured to purchase the products the influencer is endorsing to achieve similar results in unrealistic timeframes. This pressure may cause someone to take drastic steps to alter their physical appearance and could lead users to obsess about obtaining a particular body type. According to Perloff, et al. "The pervasive nature of edited images on social media platforms contributes to the development of body dissatisfaction and unhealthy eating behaviors by setting unattainable beauty standards." All bodies are different, so many of these expectations are impossible to obtain. Unfortunately, this is just another tactic for influencers and companies to make money and perpetuate unhealthy or disordered eating habits.
Now that we've discussed the dangers, let's look at some healthier social media interaction techniques to combat negative body image. Using social media with intent mindfulness can reduce one's chance of partaking in disordered eating habits. Exposure to a variety of body types on social media platforms can promote body acceptance and reduce the internalization of thin ideals, thereby improving users' body image and reducing the risk of disordered eating behaviors ("Social Media"). One important step to take is to intentionally follow social media accounts that encourage self-acceptance and feature a range of realistic body types. It can be helpful for social media users to see that real humans have stretch marks, cellulite, wrinkles, acne and other so called "flaws." Finding unretouched posts can assist with this reminder. Luckily, as information about this link between social media and unhealthy eating habits has become more prevalent, an abundance of accounts can be found that post and boast unfiltered, unedited real human bodies. These kinds of accounts and groups do have to be intentionally searched for, because there are far fewer of these accounts compared to the amount of media using photoshopped and edited images.
Another method of curating one's social media feed is to unfollow or mute accounts that constantly give unrealistic expectations and make the user feel bad about themselves. This can create a more positive social media atmosphere. Certain terms or phrases can be intentionally blocked from a user's view. One may choose to hide posts labeled as "weight loss" or "diet" to keep their feed more lighthearted. With these methods implemented, social media users might come to see their own bodies in a more realistic and accepting light. This can lessen the possibility of developing disordered eating habits.
Be aware of the business side of social media to navigate social media content safely. A study by Patil et al highlights the importance of developing critical media literacy skills among adolescents. They note that many are exposed to promotional content for diet supplements that may not be scientifically validated ("Impact"). One way to become more "social media literate" is to learn to recognize edited or unrealistic images and the tactics used to promote products. When a user recognizes the financial gain behind influencer's marketing of a product, they can then research to confirm what they are being sold is a legitimate method or product for weight loss or wellness. With this knowledge, social media users can make more informed decisions about their health and eating habits. The ability to recognize these marketing ploys can be helpful for otherwise vulnerable social media users to move on and not partake in useless products or dangerous habits. As a result, interactions with food may stay unaffected by the social media advertisements or the outlook on eating habits may improve.
When all else fails, one should step away from social media entirely to protect themselves from the constant stream of content creators with unattainable or edited bodies. If one is aiming to lose weight, it may be beneficial to seek help from reliable sources when it comes to eating habits such as a primary care doctor. Finding a licensed dietitian through one's doctor is a much better option than seeking advice from an unlicensed social media source.
In conclusion, social media usage has a significant impact on body image and can lead to the development of disordered eating behaviors, but with mindful engagement practices, users can reduce the dangers associated with social media usage and promote a better relationship with food. It is important to remember that one's worth is derived not from the number of likes or followers on social media, but from the empathy one demonstrates towards others and oneself, both on social media and in real life.
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