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Hi Everyone,
While many people think of anorexia nervosa as a “woman’s
disease,” that is not the case at all.
In fact, the rate of eating disorders in college men is between 4 and
10% according to NEDA.
In my searches for articles on links between social media
and eating disorders, I find a lot of stories about personal struggles with
eating disorders. One story in particular caught my attention this week.
At 20 years old, Thomas (last name not given) was battling
anorexia six years after being diagnosed with the disorder. Thomas said that he felt pressured to look
thin in his hometown of Sydney, Australia.
“I believed that I needed to look a certain way to have other people
like me and to make friends,” he said in an interview. Thinness seems to be
emphasized all over the world in many cultures today.
“I
was constantly being bombarded with images of people with the 'ideal body,'
photos of people's food and posts about dieting and exercise. I would
constantly compare myself to other people online and in Instagram photos,” he
also said in the interview, and reported that he further limited his food
intake in attempt to resemble the people he often saw on Instagram and other
social media sites.
Thomas
claims that Instagram is not the cause of his disorder, but that the photos
on Instagram have still furthered his
negative thoughts about his body. While Instagram contains millions of photos
considered “pro-ana,” Thomas was simply affected by the everyday, common photos
of people in their best light.
I
always thought mainly just the “thinspiration” pictures were the biggest
trigger to negative feelings about one’s body. However, from reading Thomas’s
story, I learned that even the photos most people consider harmless, casual
photos can still cause other people to compare themselves to those in the
photos.
Thanks
for reading!
Carly
Hi Carly! I think it is very interesting that he was so deeply affected by pictures he sees in his day to day life. However, how can this be stopped? Even by going outside you can see people thinner than you or more attractive than you. So is social media really making things worse or are the people affected by these illnesses lacking so much self confidence that they are just more susceptible.
ReplyDeleteOf course there is a whole other element of persuasion with the pro-ana pictures but just the regular, healthy person posting on their social media should not be able to persuade someone to be anorexic. What do you think??
Hi Charlotte,
DeleteYou raise a good point... I guess the best/only way that he could stop being affected by photos on instagram and the people he sees in his daily life is by receiving treatment for this disorder, since posting regular/ non pro-ana photos isn't going to go away anytime soon since there is nothing wrong with it for most of the population.
Hey Carly! Do you think there should be more awareness of other ways to become thinner (if that is someone's goal) than to just starve themselves (or limit their intake of food)? I believe that fitness and eating healthy foods are the best way to help oneself, mentally and physically.
ReplyDeletePersonally, when I go on instagam and see pictures of people who are really fit, I sometimes feel jealous, which is a normal reaction. However, the pictures sometimes inspire and motivate me to get up and start exercising. Like you said, some people feel the need to compare their body image to others. Do you think that social media can be used to boost people's confidence and encourage people to not compare themselves with others?
Hi Rachael,
DeleteI do think it's a good idea to raise awareness for the healthier ways to lose weight if one so desires and losing weight is appropriate/ not unhealthy or dangerous for someone. However, I don't know if raising more awareness for healthy weight loss methods would help people with anorexia necessarily, as anorexia has a lot more to do with than food. In fact, many psychologists say anorexia doesn't have anything to do with food at all, and the disorder is related to other underlying causes.
Also, I definitely think social media can be used to boost body confidence. There are already tons of campaigns working to do this on social media! It's really awesome.