Social Media’s Influence on Eating Disorders
NEDAwareness Week: February 21st-27th
NOTE: If you feel like you or a loved one are experiencing any symptoms of disordered eating/distorted body image, please access the resources provided by the National Eating Disorder Awareness organization.
by Samantha Flaherty
With terms such as “thinspiration” and “fitspiration” advertised everywhere online, the spotlight on body image seems to be never-ending. Did you know that using social media for just 30 minutes per day can drastically change the perspective you have on your own body? Facebook Data Scientist Frances Haugen recently blew the whistle after a research study found that “17% of teen girls say their eating disorders got worse after using Instagram” and “about 32% of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.” (Allyn, 2021). The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), a nonprofit organization, also found that when women feel bad about their bodies, some will refuse to eat, and others will skip important events because they feel they don’t look good enough to go.
As human beings, we all seek validation. But engagement with social media seems to go much deeper than that. Being able to have immediate connection with others via click-of-a-button access makes it incredibly attractive, yet just as easy to fall prey as the platforms spread faulty and damaging information through powerful sorting techniques. These algorithms organize feeds based on the users’ levels of interaction and can pose an extreme risk to the susceptible. Those who suffer from eating disorders often have low confidence already and seeing content online that promotes harmful behavior doesn’t help, experts say. If these apps continue to “prioritize profit over the well-being of children and all users,” as Allyn quotes Haugen as saying, what does this do to mental wellness?
Since the early 2000s, social media has been influencing people’s lives. According to Smart Insights, as of January of 2022, 4.62 billion people around the globe actively engage with social media. Facebook is ranked as the top social media platform containing over 2,900,000 users with active accounts. Instagram, owned by Facebook, is ranked within the top five, reeling in over 1.4 million users (Chaffey, 2022). An article from Nursing Times states that as of 2019, 75% of young adults aged 18 to 24 use Instagram (Nursing Times, 2020). Besides being a place to share a variety of content with people on different continents and make interpersonal connections, these large internet communities can influence disordered eating behavior, depending on what content people engage with.
It is undeniable that body image is a highly charged topic, with the majority of those on Instagram posting photos of their physicality, alongside hundreds of well-known fashion brands and fitness memberships. On Instagram specifically, people are allowed to search, view, heart react to, and comment on the posts that are uploaded daily. Similar usage happens on Facebook. Often, what is seen on social media is taken at face value; due to the use of Photoshop and filters, not everything is the truth, yet people still try to reach these unrealistic appearance goals.
Jefferson Health states that the use of these platforms is associated with great levels of anxiety, fear of missing out, depression, poor sleep habits, and the potential to cultivate a negative body image (2017). Many people active on these apps are exposed to distorted images surrounding physical appearance and what constitutes “clean” eating habits, such as reading labels, avoiding certain foods, and not eating any sugar.
Often, what is seen on social media is taken at face value, but due to the use of Photoshop and filters, not everything is the truth, and yet people still try to reach unrealistic appearance goals. When you are dedicated to staying involved in the media community in the best way you know how - practicing what you are fed online, things such as fitness programs or diet plans to follow, and even the latest makeup trends - it is easy to fall into upholding the warped ideals of having to be thin and attractive to be liked. This begs an answer to the questions, “How is “attractive” defined, and why does society get to dictate that?” No one should feel like they have to alter their body to be liked by others. What matters most is that they like themselves.
NEDA shared a study that found when women feel bad about their bodies, nine out of ten say that they won’t eat, further risking their health, and that 79% of girls, and 85% of adult women, admit to choosing not to go to important events when they feel as though they don’t look good. In one study of teen girls, those who used social media were much more likely to have an internalized goal to achieve thinness, as well as actively participate in hyper fixating on the image of their bodies, (NEDA, 2018).
Self-discrepancy theory plays a role in this as someone compares their actual self (how they naturally exist in the world) with their ideal self (who they want to be), as well as with who they believe they ought to be for society. When someone compares online to make themselves feel better, they tend to make themselves feel worse. It doesn’t help that society has always put pressure on females to be skinny and look their absolute best at all times, because if they were anything but, they would be deemed unattractive, and therefore, inherently worthless.
Research has shown that social media encourages maladaptive behavior surrounding eating habits and exercise. When someone suffers from an eating disorder, their self-confidence is often extremely low, which can lead to social conformity with what they see online. Although social media does not cause eating disorders, as per an article from Monte Nido & Affiliates, it clearly plays a role in influencing the development of them, and can directly trigger disordered behavior, (Hunnicutt, 2020).
Through excessive exercising, obsessing over healthy eating, and the influence of social media, women and young girls fall into a trap of trying to uphold unrealistic, societal beauty standards. Some individuals will compulsively workout to the point where they’re nauseous and out of breath yet force themselves to continue. These actions can lead to the development of an eating disorder such as Orthorexia, a disorder that is not recognized in the DSM-5 at this point. It is comorbid with Anorexia Nervosa and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and has close influential ties with Instagram. A 2017 study had even found that 49% of people who followed health and food related accounts had symptoms of Orthorexia, (Toledo Center, 2019).
In a clinical example published by Nursing Times involving social comparison and mental health, and in a more in-depth conversation about relapse prevention, one person wrote, “I can be having a good day and then I go online and everyone’s having a better day. It just knocks me right off. I know it’s not ‘real life’, but it still feels like I can’t compare,” (Nursing Times, 2020). As the amount of time that one spends on social media increases, the worse effects it tends to have. NEDA continues the conversation by saying that using social media for just 30 minutes per day can drastically change the perspective you have on your own body, (NEDA, 2018). Women and young girls aren’t the only ones who practice social comparison though, as it is also a process that men engage with.
Bigorexia, otherwise known as muscle dysmorphia, is something Healthline shares that plenty of men struggle with. It is the belief that one’s body is too small, skinny, or muscularly inadequate, and is paired with constant thoughts about building muscle (Watson, 2020). Falsely idyllic imagery and influence from things like video games, movies, and action figures uphold this logic and as reported by the Toledo Center, can even lead to drug use when trying to achieve the body of a movie star. This adds to the already immense mortality risk associated with eating disorders in males due to how often they go unnoticed, (Toledo, 2021).
NEDA goes on to say that the average American spends more than 11 hours per day using media, which is more than the average time they spend sleeping or working, (NEDA, 2018). Nursing Times moves the conversation even further by saying that social media gives its users limitless opportunities to compare themselves to other people (Nursing Times, 2020). Engaging with social discrepancy theory to remedy the negative feelings they develop after being online for so long only perpetuates the cycle.
In thinking about the original reasoning behind the creation of social media, Sean Parker states that the ‘like’ button was intentionally created to give users a quick dopamine hit, which adds to the false appreciation they receive and continue to desperately desire (Nursing Times, 2020). 43% of teens feel badly about themselves if one of their uploads doesn’t receive a lot of likes or comments; these same teens have also deleted a post because of this (Hunnicutt, 2020). This addictive element that social media contains has given its users even more opportunities to compare and view themselves negatively, moments that used to happen regularly in person, which continue to guide the maladaptive behavior mentioned previously.
Eating disorders affect all kinds of people, regardless of age, gender, body shape, or race, and are often caused by the combination of one’s biology, mental development, and the environment they live in or expose themselves to. Social media just motivates disordered behavior even more, due to its use of harmful algorithms, and the many voices that share twisted opinions on what health truly is, and the vulnerable eyes that absorb them.
References
Allyn, Bobby. (2021, October 5). Here are 4 key points from the Facebook whistleblower’s testimony on Capitol Hill. National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2021/10/05/1043377310/facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen- congress
Are Instagram and Other Social Media Bad for Your Teen’s Mental Health? (n.d.). Abington Health. https://www.abingtonhealth.org/healthy-living/health-news/library/articles- related-to-general-health/are-instagram-and-other-social-media-bad-for-your-teens- mental-h/
Chaffey, Dave. (2022, January 27). Global social media research summary 2022. Smart Insights. https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new- global-social-media-research/
Duffy, Clare. Jorgensen, Sarah. O’Sullivan, Donie. (2021, October 4). Instagram promoted pages glorifying eating disorders to teen accounts. CNN Business. https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/04/tech/instagram-facebook-eating-disorders/index.html
How use of social media and social comparison affect mental health. (2020, February 24). Nursing Times. https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/mental-health/how-use-of-social- media-and-social-comparison-affect-mental-health-24-02-2020/
Hunnicutt, Carrie. (2020, March 13). 5 Ways Social Media Can Trigger an Eating Disorder. Clementine Programs. https://clementineprograms.com/social-media-trigger-eating- disorder/
Ladin, Brittany. (2016, November 1). How Instagram Encouraged My Eating Disorder. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-instagram-encouraged-my-eating- disorder_b_5818e9a6e4b01fffa751fa2b?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93 d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACqYH3l3IWg_F02m- AZ7S54YGR3NnsC2kwpFx7EPO3--WPVI2yeY3pW7oAZ3uuFwL-58OuHmX- 9hH4HRccwcrJ3eRaOQSJuIE4uZa1AtiVtEBY5Ov6sBKAtMHK5hwC1WcKNxSBuoC hqfINCQ0kRXhZ1LqCZv75nOlBu3zc1czgMP
Social Media and Orthorexia. (2019, August 2). Toledo Center for Eating Disorders. https://toledocenter.com/anorexia/social-media-and-orthorexia/
Statistics & Research on Eating Disorders. (n.d.). National Eating Disorder Association. https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/statistics-research-eating-disorders
Suffering in Silence: Understanding Eating Disorders in Men. (2021, March 30). Toledo Center for Eating Disorders. https://toledocenter.com/social-media/suffering-in-silence- understanding-eating-disorders-in-men/
Watson, Kathryn. (2020, November 23). What Is Bigorexia? Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/bigorexia