Social Media Is Worsening Body Image Perception and Eating Disorders Among Young People

More and more people seem to live on social media these days – at potential risks to their health without realizing it. A new report shows that social media usage could lead to multiple issues, including body image problems and eating disorders, among young people.

Social Media Addiction

This report by researchers from the Institute for Global Health at the University College London (UCL) is a review of several dozens of studies from around the world. It covered investigations into the relationship between social media usage and the physical and mental health of young people which were carried out in 17 countries.

Eating disorders are a big issue among young people and can be fatal in some cases. Knowing how social media exposure and other factors contribute to these disorders could help to better combat them.

The report appeared in the journal PLOS Global Public Health.

Working out the relationships

Social media has revolutionized how we keep in touch and socialize with other people. Its use contributes greatly to the increased screen time of most people, as observed by experts. Evidence suggests that most young people check their social media accounts a minimum of one time per hour.

The team in this study examined data from 50 studies that involved young people between the ages of 10 and 24 in its bid to establish a connection between social media usage and body image and eating disorders.

Study results show that the use of social media has a link to body image issues, eating disorders, and poor mental health. Being female, having a high body mass index (BMI), and having already existing body image concerns deepened the relationship, just as frequent social media exposures.

The review reveals that dissatisfaction with body image is often a precursor to eating disorder pathology, going by five studies. In all, 33 studies showed relationships between social media usage and body image concerns, including low self-esteem, body shame, and anxiety.

Image-centric social media platforms, such as Instagram and Snapchat, showed a significant relationship to negative body image, disordered eating, anxiety, and depression in three cross-sectional studies.

In 17 studies, researchers reported a constant relationship between appearance-related activities, including photo manipulation and “selfie” avoidance, and poor body image and eating disorder pathology risk.

The reviewers also observed that body appreciation and a high level of social media literacy protected against these issues.

Unintended hashtag effects

These UCL researchers also looked into the impact of certain hashtags on body image concerns and eating pathology in their review.

Eight studies probed the impact of the hashtag trend #fitspiration. Half (50 percent) reported a relationship to pathology and 25 percent partly hinted at the relationship. The remaining 25 percent dismissed the association with pathology.

While the trend drove some people to healthy eating and lifestyle habits, it had an unplanned effect of harmful pressure on others. It led to too much exercise and later to binging and disordered eating in the latter case. In one Instagram study, for example, more than 17 percent of subjects were reported to be at risk of having an eating disorder.

Another three studies examined the effect of the #thinspiration trend. One of these studies suggested the trend presented starvation as not indicative of mental health issues but as a lifestyle preference. Posts promoted disordered eating while also providing tips on how to keep the behavior from being detected by others.

In one cross-sectional study, researchers reported that 96 percent of subjects held to the thin-ideal body image promoted on social media. A whopping 86 percent of these participants were said to meet the criteria for clinical or subclinical eating disorders.

The UCL researchers decried poor regulation of social media usage among people of “a developmentally susceptible age category.” They described the observed relationship with pathology in this group as alarming.

Many parents may wrongly assume that the media is as well regulated as it was while they were younger, the researchers noted.