Scroll, Compare, Repeat: The Cost of Social Media

Neuroscience news

The heavy cost of social media on the development of eating disorders.

What are some good words to describe social media? 

Birdie

Social media affects how we perceive our sizes.

Connectivity. Engagement. Profit. 

What else? 

Toxic. Harmful. Unattainable. 

As stated by The Eating Recovery Center: "The curated and often unrealistic portrayals of beauty and fitness shared online can pave the way for negative self-comparisons, low self-esteem, and disordered eating behaviors."

Platforms like TikTok and Instagram use the concept of building an online community to reach the masses. However, this exact algorithm ends up targeting specific groups of people, making it very hard to escape the never-ending content. 

Vogue

"Skinny Tok" has now become the new "Heroin Chic."

With words such as "Skinny Tok" beginning to describe TikTok, it is reminiscent of the Kate Moss era of the 1990s. Society thought the era of "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" was left at the turn of the century. However, the rise of influencers on social media promoting unhealthy habits and the so-called "perfect" body has drastically increased over the last few years

"Skinny Tok" essentially is toxic motivation, and the hashtag alone has conjured up millions of views, likes, and comments. This type of content is sneaky because on the surface, it appears to simply be nutritional advice to help women feel their best.

That is just the tip of the iceberg. 

What lies underneath is an exposure to weight stigma, which then showcases itself in disordered thoughts, eating behaviors, and the idea of an unattainable body image. Dietician Andrea Mathis said in an interview for the Today Show, "the more you do it [restrict] with that mindset [body comparison], it can turn into obsession." 

Social Media & Body Image Statistics

Pinterest

80% of women compare themselves to women on social media.

It is this obsession that has numerous consequences for the girls, seeing the unrealistic content, which they perceive as reality through their continuously developing brains. Adolescent girls are already seeing numerous changes happening to their bodies in the pivotal ages between 10-19 years. 

It is a natural, healthy part of life. 

However, with the increase of body checking content on social media, their perceptions of themselves begin to get twisted, leading to dissatisfaction with their own self-image. According to an article written for Frontiers, adolescents who experience body dissatisfaction are at a higher risk of developing an eating disorder. 

Eating disorders are complex and extremely harmful. 15 percent of women will suffer from an eating disorder in their lives, and anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. These numbers are dangerous and will continue to rise based on content prevalent on social media. 

Using social media can affect body image by encouraging body comparisons, dissatisfaction with one's appearance, and disordered eating behaviors, all of which can play a role in the development of eating disorders. 

The American Psychological Association conducted a study in which they found that teens who reduced social media usage by 50% for a few weeks saw a notable improvement in their confidence surrounding their weight and overall body appearance satisfaction. 

The Today Show

The majority of women let social media
affect their body image. 

Gary Goldfield, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, said, "Social media can expose users to thousands of images and photos every day, including those of celebrities and fitness models, which we know leads to an internalization of beauty ideals that are unattainable for almost everyone, resulting in greater dissatisfaction with body weight and shape."

The problem isn't as simple as not allowing kids social media because no matter what, they will be exposed to this content and mentality in one way or another. The issue is creating more of a discussion around the severe consequences concerning body checking, disordered eating behaviors that have been "normalized," and self-comparison in this digital age. 

Why do I care so much? 

It would be easy to brush off this topic and say, "Well, this doesn't pertain to me. I'm grown up and past that pivotal developmental stage." However, this couldn't be further from the truth. What started out as mere disordered thoughts and comparing myself to the influencers on social media led to a severe, debilitating eating disorder. 

One that I am still working so hard to recover from. 

I wish I could say it's been easy. I wish I could say that social media has a positive side. A recovery side. However, I can confidently say that social media platforms do more harm than good. Sure, I might come across a "recovery is worth it!" post every now and again. 

In actuality, I open my TikTok, and the first thing I see is a close-up of a woman's unrealistic body with the caption "what I eat in a day to stay skinny." To be completely honest, most of the time it takes all my strength not to go down that rabbit hole again. 

Just like a drug addict craves the companionship of self-medication. A girl with an eating disorder is addicted to the competition of comparison. What better way to find that than social media?