Social media, body image and eating disorders
distorted body image but it doesn’t involve the purging cycle and over-eating; instead, sufferers try to refrain from eating anything at all. Bulimia ismuchmore common thanAnorexia but alsomuch harder to identify because bulimic patients can maintain a healthy BMI. Anorexia is more absolute in its restriction of eating and due to its severity, it is more well known. Girls are particularly susceptible to eating disorders and make up most of the cases, although there is an increasing percentage of male cases as well. 7 Adolescents aren’t just the most vulnerable to eating disorders they are also mos t invested in and vulnerable to the effects of social media. Teenagers are more prone to addiction 8 and website/app developers purposely exploit this weakness, offering unlimited content, so you spend more and more time on their platform. Social media has the further allure of instant personal connections, the ability to be able to talk to friends or anonymously to complete strangers without ever leaving your house. Humans are sociable animals and we all crave to connect with others. Due to all these factors social media can dominate adolescents' lives, with children spending between two and four hours online each day. 9 I chose to investigate the link between social media and eating disorders because, although there is a lot of research into the effects of mass media conducted by researchers like Erguner-Tekinalp, B, and Steinhausen, H.C, there is only a little into social media. This is despite the enormous popularity and reach of social media platforms, such as Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook. I felt that I could discover some interesting links by applying previous research into eating disorders to our understanding of social media. I believe that the impact of social media has been significantly under-researched and understated and so I intend to investigate the negative and positive effects of social media and whether it can be considered a major factor in the growth of reported cases. There is another to an important point to make clear. When I refer to ‘reported cases’, this means the number of people admitted into the health-care system with an eating disorder. There were 13,885 admitted cases in 2017, up from 7,260 in 2010. 10 This is a significant increase, but the actual figures are probably much higher because people suffering from eating disorders camouflage their symptoms and refuse to seek help. Admission into the NHS usually only occurs in the most serious cases after hospitalization, the number of people actually affected by eating disorders is believed to be high as 1.6 million, 10% of these cases being anorexia nervosa and 40% being Bulimia Nervosa. 11 Bulimia is especially under diagnosed because individuals suffering from it can still maintain a healthy BMI (Body mass index), which is the primary measure for diagnosis. I must consider that some of the increase in cases could actually be due to more awareness of eating disorders and a deeper understanding of them but I think it is unlikely this alone 7 BBC (2017) Increase in cases of men suffering from eating disorders. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-39803493/increase-in-cases-of-men-suffering-from-eating-disorders (17 March 2020). 8 Welch, Jennifer. (2012) Why teens are more prone to addiction, Mental Illness Available at: https://www.livescience.com/17938-teens-prone-addiction-mental-illness.html (Accessed: 15/03/20). 9 Donnelly, Laura. (2019) Children spend twice as long on smartphones as talking to parents. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/02/07/children-spend-twice-long-smartphones-talking-parents/ (Accessed: 22/03/20). 10 Marsh, Sarah. (2018) 'Eating disorders: NHS reports surge in hospital admissions', The Guardian 12 Feb. 11 Eating Disorder Statistics (2020) Available at: https://www.priorygroup.com/eating-disorders/eating-disorder- statistics (Accessed: 03/04/2020).
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