Social media, body image and eating disorders
It isn’t just celebrities who can be a positive force on social media, there are numerous mental help sites that post advice, support and offer help. When you search #anorexia on Instagram, there is nothing glorifying the illness but instead stories of recovery and hope. They show that recovery is possible, although difficult, and it may help individuals suffering from the illness feel less alone in their struggle. It can also help to spread awareness of eating disorders and make people more aware of friends that may be struggling. People who suffer from eating disorders are often very secretive, feel ashamed and do not seek help. Increased awareness by friends and family can make a really big difference in helping them before sufferers’ conditions become serious enough for hospitalization. Instagram has also made its own attempts to limit the damage of several hashtags and searches. If you search #thin or related hashtags, Instagram will first take you to page informing you that the content related to the search can be harmful for your mental wellbeing. It gives a link which takes you to page with information relating to eating disorders and hotlines that you can call for help. However, you can simply click continue and view the content, and this warning also only turns up the first time you search for it. It is a good move from social media companies but seems like a nod to their responsibilities, rather than a committed response to a serious issue. A more effective response could be to ban some hashtags altogether, but they seem very unwilling to do this. I think that the measure is too easy to bypass, and I doubt it would stop anyone already suffering, or on the verge of an eating disorder. It could even be a signpost to the content they want to see.
Conclusion
The aim of this dissertation has been to try to establish the impact of social media on eating disorders and whether it is responsible for the growth of hospital admissions in recent years. There was surprisingly little research available considering the scale of the problem, but, in my investigations, I did find enough to conclude that social media does have negative impact on disordered eating. The risk factors that often trigger eating disorders frequently overlap with the results of social media usage, low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and harmful peer pressure. Adolescence is a key period where individuals begin to develop their own ideas and identity, separate from their parents. They are very susceptible to the social norms that they see around them and will copy this. The social norms they see on SNS are of thin, beautiful and successful people and they believe that to be popular and succeed in life they must follow this ideal. Furthermore, the anonymity and lack of regulation produce a breeding ground for cyberbullying where people are body-shamed by strangers or even their friends. This is then reinforced by the compliments that then begin to emerge as they force themselves to become skinnier. I also concluded, however, that social media is not intrinsically bad and that the issue lies with the content that exists on these sites. Positive influencers and celebrities can distribute encouraging social norms that preach acceptance and break the out-dated idea that you must be a certain body type. It can also act as a support network for those suffering with a complicated relationship with food, providing a community where they don’t feel ashamed of their disorder. Despite the possibility for social media to be a positive influence, I think it is without a doubt the largest factor to blame for the growth in admitted cases. It exacerbates the existing cultural issues and fails miserably to protect its users from the dangers of the content available.
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