Exploring Body Image: Research, Social Media and Eating Disorders
Research suggests that over the past 10 years, the prevalence of eating disorders has more than doubled. It’s thought that the misuse of social media may be a contributing factor to the rise in eating disorders. This connection seems to be especially notable in adolescents, who have experienced a rise in both social media use and eating disorder prevalence. Social media users can take steps to limit the negative impact of using these platforms. For individuals who are struggling with mental health challenges or eating disorders associated with social media use, therapy can equip them with the tools they deserve to improve their mental health.
The connection between social media and eating disorders
Eating disorders can be categorized as behavioral conditions that can impact not only someone’s relationship with food, but also their thoughts and emotions. Someone with an eating disorder is typically preoccupied with food, their weight, anxiety about eating, or the consequences of eating a certain food. Eating disorders often co-occur with various mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and alcohol and substance use disorders.
How might social media contribute to an eating disorder?
The National Eating Disorders Association suggests that there is a clear link between social media consumption and the risk of developing eating disorders, such as binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, and anorexia nervosa. There are a few potential reasons why social media and eating disorders could be linked.
Promoting unrealistic beauty standards
Social media can be seen as a careful curation of content that users want to share with others. With filters and Photoshop, content creators can post picture-perfect images on their social media accounts that don’t portray how they really look, which may contribute to eating disorders.
Even without edits, users can utilize specific poses to hide their stomachs or disguise cellulite on their legs. Users are often exposed to a constant barrage of images that are edited, retouched, or AI-generated. These unattainable beauty standards may entice adolescents and other users to engage in eating disorders in an attempt to attain similar body shapes.
Cyberbullying
Misinformation
Research shows that social media impacts users in different ways
The impact of social media use can vary, and age and gender are usually two of the biggest risk factors. For teenage girls, social media and eating disorders can go hand in hand. Young women who already have body image concerns and a high BMI are typically most at risk of being negatively impacted by what they see on social media.
Female social media users are often exposed to “thinspiration,” which encourages a slim body type, while male users are frequently exposed to “fitspiration," which encourages a muscular body type.
However, social media may not be all bad. For transgender and non-binary people, using social media can improve body image and overall mental health. Facebook groups and Reddit communities can function as spaces to gather with others who share similar backgrounds, which may be especially liberating for young adults who experience a sense of isolation in their physical communities.
Certain social media platforms may have a stronger association with eating disorders
Platforms that focus on photo- and video-specific content are generally more likely to contribute to eating disorders. Teenage girls have identified Instagram and TikTok as the two apps that have most contributed to poor body image.
Social media platforms may also approach eating disorders in different ways. YouTube typically allows users to search for eating disorder content, although it does include an eating disorder helpline banner at the top of search results for some phrases related to the topic. While some videos related to eating disorders are available on TikTok, a search for “anorexia” prompts a display of the phone number for the National Eating Disorders Association.
Social media can function as an echo chamber
Social media algorithms are typically designed to funnel similar content to users. Researchers at USC Viterbi’s Information Sciences Institute used machine learning tools to evaluate patterns in tweets relating to diet and weight loss, then used hashtags from those tweets to identify related online communities. When they analyzed the conversations that social media community members were having, they found that many communities were acting as echo chambers. Users often interacted with one another, but rarely with others outside of their groups.
A rising social media trend: Orthorexia
How to prevent social media from negatively impacting your body image
You don’t have to completely eliminate social media use from your life in order to safeguard your body image.
High social media literacy
Being mindful about the realities– and fantasies– of social media can help you view content through a more mindful lens. High social media literacy may equip you to interact with online content in a healthier and more constructive way.
- Accessing media and technology tools skillfully
- Analyzing and evaluating online messages
- Creating content
- Reflecting on your own online conduct
- Interacting in online communities to share knowledge and help solve problems
The second pillar – evaluating online messages – can be critical to protecting your body image and discouraging eating disorders. Consider how certain content leads you to feel and what kind of behavior it encourages. When you come across posts that glorify overly thin ideals or encourage food restriction, hide them and work to reshape the content your algorithm is showing you.
Body appreciation
Parents can implement strategies to limit social media’s impact on body image
Adolescents can be especially vulnerable to the impact of social media on their body image. They also tend to comprise a large share of patients with eating disorders. Approximately 40% of cases occur among teenagers between the ages of 15 to 19. Parents can take steps to encourage the healthy use of social media and reduce the negative impact it can have on body image.
Limit children’s time on social media
Limiting social media use can act as both a proactive and reactive solution. Less time on social media can prevent adolescents from being exposed to harmful messages and images that encourage eating disorders. High school students who use social media for more than two hours a day are about 1.6 times more likely to experience body image issues than students who spend less time using social media.
For individuals who have poor body image or an eating disorder, it may be even more critical to limit social media use, as decreasing the use of social media can decrease eating disorder symptoms.
Seek professional support
As questions are raised about the addictive properties of platforms like Facebook and Instagram, it’s become clear that the allure of social media can be strong. Even if individuals want to reduce the control that social media seems to have over their minds, it may be difficult to develop the willpower to do so. Therapy can be a powerful tool to reshape unhelpful thought processes and discourage the negative impacts of social media on body image.
Online therapy can effectively treat various mental health conditions. A 2021 study examined the effects of web-based cognitive behavioral therapy in treating individuals with eating disorders. Researchers found that the treatment generally resulted in long-term reductions in eating disorder psychopathology and body dissatisfaction. Participants also typically experienced lasting improvements in their physical health, mental health, and social functioning.
Takeaway
How is social media affecting eating disorders?
A growing body of research indicates that social media use may be related to body image concerns and eating disorder pathology. “The social media diet,” a 2023 review and cross-sectional study of 50 research papers on the topic published by PLOS Global Public Health, investigates this connection. Its findings suggest that social media usage has links to body image issues, eating disorder symptoms, disordered eating behaviors, and poor mental health. It indicates that this is a global public health issue that requires prevention strategies to address.
How has the media contributed to the rise of eating disorders?
Although there's no single cause of eating disorders, research suggests that the modern media may often play a role in the pathology of these types of illnesses. For instance, the tripartite influence model theorizes that the development of one's body image is primarily influenced by peers, parents, and the media.
How does social media affect what you eat?
Social media can affect what you eat in various ways. This may be particularly true for young adolescents, since a Pew Research Center study suggests that nearly half of teens say they use the internet “almost constantly”—mainly consuming social media content—and therefore are potentially exposed to ads and messaging about beauty standards for many hours each day.
This exposure may make individuals more likely to absorb mass-media opinions about what the “ideal” body shape and size is and what eating behaviors are healthy or trendy. This may be why one recent scoping review about social media use across multiple platforms suggests that young girls, young women, and adolescents of all genders with a social media account and significant time spent online each day may be more likely to develop eating disorders.
How does an eating disorder affect your social life?
In addition to significant physical and mental health impacts, eating disorders can also affect someone's social life. For example, someone experiencing bulimia may engage in excessive exercise in an effort to try and “make up for” binge eating, which could limit the time they have available for maintaining relationships. Or, someone with anorexia might avoid social situations where food may be served, such as birthday parties or dinners with friends, which could contribute to social isolation over time.
How does social media affect students’ eating habits?
Social media can have a significant impact on the eating habits of students and other young people. Public health research on social media suggests that high social media use could lead to poor self-image, thin-ideal internalization, distorted body ideals, and eating disorders or related behaviors such as skipping meals in an effort to lose weight.
What triggers eating disorders?
There are thought to be multiple factors that may contribute to the development of eating disorders. Some examples include genetics, brain structure differences, certain personality traits like perfectionism, and the influence of peers and media.
What most likely causes eating disorders, according to research?
Research suggests that some people may be at higher risk of developing an eating disorder due to genetics. Other factors that may make an eating disorder diagnosis more likely include stressful life experiences, other co-occurring mental health conditions, and high levels of social media exposure.
What is the relationship between social media and eating habits?
Research indicates that social media can significantly affect eating habits. Some studies even suggest that high social media use may correlate with the development of disordered eating behaviors and diagnosable eating disorders. For example, one meta-analysis published in the journal J Adolesc Health suggests that some social networking sites are home to directly pro-eating disorder content, which may be particularly dangerous for younger media consumers and represents a potential child health risk.
What are the negative effects of social media and eating disorders?
How does social media affect body health and body image?
Social media may affect body health and body image in a variety of ways. While it's possible for someone to learn healthy habits by following nutrition-related or body positivity accounts, for example, it seems to be more common for a social networking site to negatively impact body health and body image. For instance, one meta-analytic review indicates that higher levels of social media usage correlate with “lower psychological well-being, decreased self-esteem, increased loneliness, as well as an increase in depressive symptoms,” all of which can impact physical body health. Research suggests a correlation between social media use, negative body image, and self-reported eating disorders as well.
- Previous Article
- Next Article