Social media, body image and eating disorders
through a thin physique. Also, children and adolescents learn from their parents and, if they see their parents dieting, avoiding food at mealtimes or complaining about their weight, they are much more likely to exhibit similar behaviour. Countless studies have shown that the childrenwhose parents suffer from eating disorders are statistically more at risk. 21 The second factor, a perceived lack of control, can be individual or also tie into the family dynamic. The individuals believe they are not in control of their lives, whether it is to do with school, family or friends. Eating is something that they do have control over, and restricting their diet becomes a haven, somewhere they have absolute control. Natasha De von describes anorexia it as a ‘perversely competitive illness’ 22 and this is because it can become a competition, bothwith yourself and the people around you. How little can you eat? How thin can you be? Aiming to be thinner and to eat less rewards the individual with a feeling of achievement and self-worth that they struggle to achieve in normal life. It becomes an obsessive ritual and a tightening spiral as they restrict more and more. It becomes harder and harder to return to a normal eating pattern as they feel insecure and anxious without the ritual that gives themself- worth. Social media doesn’t attack their self -control, but it can damage their self-esteem and it could exacerbate existing problems. By damaging their self-esteem, it can cause individuals to rely more and more on restrictive eating to give them their self-worth. It may push them to be more rigorous in their dieting and purging.
Instagram and dieting
In the UKmost of us have internalized this idea of a diet culture, where to be thin and fit is an indication of success and achievement. Everyone is dieting or thinking about dieting or wishing they had the will power to do it. The sedentary lives that most people in the UK live have led to an increase in weight, and most of us cannot sustain the societal ideal body image while living our normal lives. We must try to achieve it, going to the gym or subscribing to a diet. This idea is so prominent in our society that children take part as well: 40% of girls diet during adolescence and 25% of boys. 23 In my own survey I found that 38% of people had felt pressure to diet, the most common themes being to lose weight (influenced by family and friends) and conforming to sporting physique. Social media is awash with hashtags: #fitspiration, #thin, #diet, and #workout. For example, on Instagram #diet has 63 million posts and #workout has 165 million tagged posts. To put this in perspective #politics has 5.9 million and #America has 37 million. An overwhelming amount of content on Instagram is related to this idea of diet culture. Seeing these posts repeatedly internalizes the drive to become thin, and it creates dissatisfactionwhenwe try and compare ourselves to the people we see online. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable as they are still developing their own opinions and are easily influenced by external factors, like these posts. Inmy own survey, when asked about their social media habits, 64% said they followed exercise/gym/beauty pages. That means that they are being exposed to their friends but also influencers or celebrities who are producing image-orientated content. This gives more opportunity for comparison and dissatisfaction. Body dissatisfaction is one of the largest reported triggers of eating disorders and I think that the body dissatisfaction provoked by
21 Bould, H. (2015) 'Parental mental illness and eating disorders in offspring.', International Journal of Eating Disorders , 48(4): 383-91. 22 Natasha Devon, 2018. A beginner’s guide to being mental an A -Z. Bluebird. 23 Nicholls, D. and Viner, R. (2005). Eating disorders and weight problems. BMJ, 330(7497): 950-953.
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