The harmful role of social media on eating disorders

Have you ever seen media that portrays an ideal body type, whether it be skinny, chubby, overweight, or obese? 

Social media sets a harmful idea of what our bodies should look like and how we can achieve our “ideal self.” Even if the idea of becoming this version of yourself doesn't seem harmful, it can disrupt your mindset and bodily self- esteem. There are various sites that promote these behaviors such as popular social media apps like TikTok, Instagram and X. Each of these platforms all contain a popular type of content that romanticize eating disorders.

For example, a popular trend on TikTok would be “mukbangs”, which is a type of video or livestream that consists of eating large amounts of food. At first these videos can be seen as harmless, but it is in fact an unhealthy trend that encourages others to eat (or sometimes overeat) “trending” foods for views and likes. Many people who watch these videos are people who enjoy watching others eat, also known as “feeders”. How are online feeders harmful you may ask? Well, if someone keeps donating and feeding money to watch people eat these foods they will eventually gain weight. The dangerous part of this side of “feederism” is the amount of people who ruin their body for fame and money, when more and more people participate in these videos the rate of food intake increases rapidly. Nevertheless, there are always two sides to every problem and in this case there is one solution but one major problem. A solution would be to exercise or fast before eating a large amount of food, but that takes control and work that not many people will want to put up with; because of this, people will eat and eat and there will be a possibility that they feel like they always need to eat or simply can't stop. This is where eating disorders come into play; the more someone eats the more they depend or crave it. An easy solution to this would be burning the calories off, but once a person reaches the point where they are unable or don't want to work to stay healthy they will start to develop a disorder, or a binge eating disorder. 

Naturally, social media feeds into indulging the aforementioned people's problems by making it seem “normal” and “positive.” One way of normalizing these problems would be the widespread use of “body positivity.” The concept itself is not wrong, it's in fact a good thing, but when it's used on bodies that are harming or slowly killing the person (like in mukbang videos) it becomes a huge problem. These platforms feed into the idea that harmful body types are now the new “norms” and this creates issues. For example, if someone sees a promotion video and believes it's okay to keep their lifestyle and ignore their health, they will eventually never change for the better and will keep getting worse. At the end of the day, eating disorders and obesity are all caused by many different events or conditions, but social media is the big reason these problems are supported and increasing each day.

Working out and living your “dream” life seems amazing; the healthy diets, the work out routines, all of these is to work on achieving your ideal body and goals, but what if it becomes too much? What if eating healthy and working out overtakes your mind? Could living the “perfect ideal” lifestyle change for the worse? Could it cause you to never be truly happy with yourself? Diet and workout culture is a big part of many people's lifestyles, they work out to gain muscle, eat healthy to become slimmer. Despite all of these good qualities, it can ruin someone's mindset, make them afraid of the idea of gaining weight or even eating anything slightly unhealthy. Instagram is known for its fitness bloggers and content creators, and like any other platform, Instagram has its downsides. “Toxic diets” can blend into normal diet cultures when it's promoted many times on people’s timelines. If a young adult or impressionable child sees these toxic diets and starts carrying out these habits, they could become passionate about these hurtful diets. You may wonder, “But how can these seemingly healthy lifestyles create an eating disorder?” One type of popular disorder is called bulimia, which is a type of eating disorder where a person binges and discards the food by overworking to burn the calories or by throwing up the food, but in what way does this correlate with eating healthy or working out? The toxic mindsets could affect these people's habits, depending on the diet they will follow and they could become infatuated by it to the point of fearing eating anything that doesn't directly “fit” the diet. A person with a bulimia disorder could see more of the promotion videos and this can deepen this condition, make them overwork themselves to the point of collapsing, or starve themselves to the point of death. Unhealthy posts on diets and exercise may influence others to follow, and this could lead to an ongoing trend of toxic habits and disorders, and the promoter/influencer will end up gaining money or fame from supporting this, which will cause the algorithm to promote more of their damaging videos. 

Will starving yourself help you become “beautiful” or “flawless”? Could being skinny boost your ego or make you fit in? Anorexia, which is a harmful eating disorder where one essentially has an intense fear of gaining weight, has always been around, and over the years the rate of it increased more and more; but as the growth of social media rises, so too could the rate of anorexia. For example, young people have been exposed to many harmful phrases, like “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels,” which a popular model once said. So many online communities support these ideas that you're only “lovable,” “wanted” or “desired” if you're thin. Many of these communities are on a popular app known as Twitter, now changed to X. X is a badly filtered social media platform where a lot of unsavory events happen and are posted unfiltered and unreported. This leads to big communities that support toxic standards and beliefs, which all go unnoticed by the app. Popular communities on the app are known as “EDTWT”, which stands for “Eating Disorder Twitter.” This side of X promotes any method of becoming skinny and the ideal standard. Many followers in this community are severely ill and need help, but the media they are exposed to influences them to keep on with these dangerous habits. Once a person is stuck in the habit it's very hard for them to break out of, and they might see themselves as fat despite being skinny. The more these unhealthy habits are shared on this platform the more people will develop these habits or spiral deeper into their disorder. Social media is not a safe space for disorders, it's unhealthy and should never allow these hurtful media to spread.

In the end, it is up to the person who has this disorder to become better and seek professional help, but it's very hard when these insensitive and toxic videos and messages are shared for everyone to see on social media. As much as society wants a healthy and welcoming safe space for people who struggle with these disorders, it can never be done online. In every “safe space” there will always be at least one troll and cruel person supporting these sick beliefs. 

If someone is struggling with an eating disorder it's best for them to talk to a trusted friend, family member, adult, or professional. Telling your problems to the internet where many twisted individuals could use your problems for their own gain will never be okay. If you or someone you know struggles with an eating disorder please try and get better, it's safer to seek help before the problem gets bigger. Beating a disorder is challenging and very hard, but it's all up to you, your approach, and mindset.

Remember that you have the power to seek help.