Effects of social media on eating disorders.Discuss

Effects of social media on eating disorders

This paper discusses the interaction between social media and eating disorders. An eating disorder is a disturbance of everyday diet by either overeating or undereating. Unfortunately, social media is to blame for the soaring a large number of teens suffering from eating disorders. Discussions about potential life-threatening eating disorders are increasing especially after the death of the Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston in 2006 because of anorexia. It looks like the popularity of celebrities, and many social media outlets may be contributing to a high increase in teenagers with eating disorders. Anything that takes most of our time, in this case, the social media, is bound to have effects on us. Recent articles point out Facebook and Instagram as the leading cause of eating disorders like anorexia. Other articles from the same avenues feature people who use social media to encourage healthy living and explain how to lose excess weight

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) listed three main types of eating disorders. The most famous of these is anorexia nervosa, which is due to lack of eating sufficient food to maintain a healthy function. Bulimia nervosa is another eating disorder commonly associated with anorexia. Overeating is the other eating disorder, which can lead to obesity. They all result in health problems.

A 2010 study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of public health explained that when they searched for terms like pre-anorexia, 83 percent results were websites talking about eating disorder behaviors (Thompson and Leslie 342). Since this was 2010, one has to conclude that pro-eating disorder content is more abundant since social media is still evolving as time passes.

Although more research is needed, one can link the perceptions from previous studies about social media to try to understand its likely effects on weight. If being on Instagram browsing images of people with apparently perfect looking bodies gives one the fear of missing out, then it is likely to make one anxious, and that would mess up one’s eating disorder. It would make an individual lose more weight even if they were already skinny thinking that it would be more fun. Eating disorders are common in teens since most of them are in social media.

Social media is an avenue for social comparison. The literature says that social comparison affects self-esteem. Most people use it as a medium to share information about their unhealthy living. The misguided hope is to encourage thinness hence the word ‘thinspiration’. The content results in feelings of inadequacy and body dissatisfaction. It can lead to wanting to take urgent action through over exercising to achieve thinness among the people struggling with a negative body. Eating disorders are isolating diseases. For those suffering, social media supports withdrawal from the real world and spending time online is a way of avoiding direct communication with others. It offers a sense of belonging to the topics that makes one feel safe even if it is unhealthy (Thomas and Leslie 339-353).

Most people have talked about their experiences on social media calling it constructive because they have found helpful information on healthy ways to lose weight, how to fight depression and so on. There is a golden rule of social media usage stating that being an active participator will make the social media time healthy. Being an active participant with the intention of being slimmer, of course, will do more harm than good. This point was emphasized by Daily mail when they wrote stories of two women was scrolling through selfies of thin women and had the goal of losing weight and becoming like them. The other woman used social media to track her progress, ate three healthy meals a day as required and used YouTube to find ideas of how she could work out.

A report produced by the director of programs at the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) in the United States shows that eating disorder sufferers tend to put more emphasis on in present themselves in a particular way. She said that anorexia patients suffer from perfectionism and comparison. Social media triggers the feeling of anxiety and thoughts that are already there, an issue that is agreed to many experts and eating disorder sufferers.

Social media offers anonymity. Most people with eating disorders like to hide their identity and body dissatisfaction by creating anonymous profiles online. Even individuals with these disorders have freedom of speech. They feel safe to discuss their issues with others in secret and share experiences since no would know whom they are or how they look like physically. For those people struggling with interpersonal skills, it is a good place to establish connections. Social media not only contributes to the establishment of eating disorder, but it can also be a very powerful tool for recovery.

All said and done; the media should find a genuine concept of beauty depending on the diversity of shape. People have different shapes and size, a statement that we have heard many times. An example to show how social media and eating disorder are related is the fashion industry. It inspires most women to want to be slimmer. Most fashion auditions are specific in their requirements while looking for women to work for them who are mostly slender. With the increase in advertisements, girls have turned to eating disorders to conform to the advertisement. Magazines and television shows have also contributed to body dissatisfaction and disorderly eating in girls. The media glorifies a slender ideal and emphasizes the importance of being slender. Naomi Wolf argued that this culture is aiming at disempowering women by holding them slaves to the unattainable beauty ideal. The industry depends on the emphasis of beauty and appearance for women. The society should insist on the diversity of shapes and size. The fashion industry is supposed to provide for its readers figures that makes sense to help to boost their confidence instead of crushing it. Media is manipulative in modern world and whatever it portrays is above reality

While pro-eating disorder content in social media is common, there is an increase in an importance of recovery-focused content, especially in groups and blogs. The main issues discussed include avoiding pro-eating disorder content. There will always be harmful content somewhere online. One should only avoid the content because it challenges the recovery process. People should also consider engaging in communities online that are concentration on recovery-focused eating disorder content. Personal stories of recovery are common in social media. Online blogs are common, and persons with the disease should consider blogging or sharing their stories with the recovery-focused community. Start a blog that is inspiring to others and share updates on one’s recovery. Site administrator should continue receiving feedbacks about pro-eating disorders, and people should report such content.

Work cited

Thompson, J. Kevin, and Leslie J. Heinberg. “The media’s influence on body image disturbance and eating disorders: We’ve reviled them, now can we rehabilitate them?.” Journal of social issues 55.2 (1999): 339-353.