How Does Social Media Contribute To Anorexia A Social Issue

It is apparent that with the increasing popularity of social media today, there has been a shift in dietary changes within our society. Individuals are subconsciously changing how and what they eat. The question arises, why are so many young women dissatisfied with their bodies, despite their size? Although there are several forces believed to play a role in this dissatisfaction such as peer criticism and parental influences, the thin-ideal body is dominating the media (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008). Thinness is largely emphasized and praised for women in magazines, television shows, movies and commercials (Stice & Shaw, 1992). Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that stems from this ubiquitous obsession to be thin and is often associated with a pathological fear of gaining weight, distorted self-body image and emaciation (The American Heritage® Science Dictionary).

Societal pressure also comes in the form of body shaming, which is defined as the criticism of another person’s body shape or appearance. According to a 2016 study, there is correlation between body shaming, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorders, all of which happen to be most prevalent in young women (Mustapic p. 447). In recent years, body shaming has become a huge problem due to the popularity of social media platforms. Women of all shapes and sizes are ridiculed on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and other sites for not conforming to societal normalities. The 2016 study also assessed eating disorders in relation to age and body mass index (BMI) of participants (Mustapic p. 449). Age did not have much effect on the data, which is unsurprising due to the fact that all participants were close in age. What is more surprising, however, is that BMI also had little effect on the data. One would think that women with greater BMIs would

Social media creates an ideal body image in an adolescent’s mind that affects them in various ways. Having an ideal body image can lower self-esteem in some adolescents’ creating eating disorders, and this idea of getting plastic surgery as they get older. Social media is steadily increasing and has heavily influenced adolescent’s to be more aware of their body figure. As a result, many adolescent’s have developed low self-esteem due to the fact that social media continues promoting fit women and creating the idea that women need to be thin to be loved or accepted by society; this can cause harm to adolescent’s because they feel the need to fit in to society.

Throughout history, body image has been determined by various factors, one of them being the media. In the article “How Social Media Is a Toxic Mirror,” written by Rachel Simmons, she shares the story of a woman who admits to being afraid of leaving her apartment without putting on makeup. “I don’t get to choose how I’m going to leave my apartment today,” one young woman told me, “If I could, my body would look different. But I cant choose which picture makes my arms look thinner” (Simmons). One word: Fear. The woman fears the opinion of others. She second guesses herself before she steps foot outside her apartment building. It displays the lack of confidence she has towards herself as an individual and the control the media has over her. The author goes on to discuss how teenagers look up to social media by obsessing over how many likes

Research shows that over 80 percent of 10-year-old girls fear becoming “fat” (NYC). Young girls are not satisfied by their body image and it is causing many issues. Even though young girls may subject themselves to body image issues, social media destroys girl’s self-worth because of the fashion industry and prolonged time and use on social media.

As this generation has easy access to social media, culminating to 95.9% of girls having access to the internet, it is no wonder that these girls have easy access to view these “ideal” images. There is a cause and effect, which can be seen through sites like Facebook and Instagram, as users are more prone to body obsession than non-users. Second, no one is immune to these beauty ideals, even the women who started it all. The women who post these photos, have internal problems as well, such as eating disorders and unhealthy fitness habits. These “role models” are achieving these beauty ideals in unhealthy ways, which is not a positive message to send to viewers. Third, we have massive studies and data to show the damages of social media, but it is the individual stories that people can

As “Thinspo” is becoming a larger part of the Tumblr society the negative impact becomes greater on teenage girls as these blogs negatively motivate and inspire girls to become “Thinspo” material. Although its not just “Thinspo” blogs which can have a negative impact on a girls psychological well-being. Pro- Anorexia “Favoring or encouraging the eating disorder of anorexia” 7 has become a common subculture in the Tumblr Society. Posts of “stick thin girls grabbing their stomachs with visible ribs and collar bones” 8 or . These images bring a concern to the wellbeing of adolescent girls. Adolescent girls “Aspire to be like that” images like these become their motivation with the help of other “Fasting buddies” 9 who encourage one another not to eat. But theres more. As ProAnorexia posts are very common on Tumblr, individuals who use tumblr will begin to think this is a norm thus incorporating this into their micro world.

Lopez-Guimera states, “Media are among the principal social agents in many societies around the world. Television, magazines, newspapers, radio, cinema, advertising, the Internet, and other so-called ‘‘new media’’ or ‘‘new technologies’’ occupy— if not invade—much of our leisure time, and indeed our working time” (Lopez-Guimera, 4). If you really think about it, on most occasions, when Americans have some down time, or a couple of minutes to rest, they quickly turn to the Internet or television. As for teenage girls, this is what aids in the issue of unhappiness with the body. If a girl spends up to ten minutes a day on a social media, or networking site, that can lead up to the viewing of an estimate twenty pictures. Yes, twenty pictures, in only ten minutes. No wonder why girls have so many things to compare themselves to. One of the worst social media sites for this issue would be Tumblr, a domain where any user can share and post hundreds of pictures on to their own page for everyone to view. When searching the words “skinny Tumblr” on Google, hundreds of Tumblr pages come up with disturbing names such as, thin-to-fit-in, some-day-I-will-be-skinny, skinny-size-zero, soso-skinny, along with many more. The idea of girls

There is no denying that social media: Instagram and Tumblr, has a significant influence on all of us. The current effects of social media have increased dramatically among young women aged between 15 and 25. As stated in the study by (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008) that the high exposure to social media portraying the thin-ideal body may be linked to body image disturbance in young women. They used a meta-analysis examined experimental and correlation studies testing the links between media exposure to young women's body dissatisfaction and the unconscious behavior towards having a thin ideal body. The results by (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008) support the claim that high exposure to social media images depicting the thin-ideal body is related to

The influence of social media on eating disorders has caused people to ban social media in their households because of the harmful effects exerted onto so many people. This influence causes girls to take a huge blow to their self esteem. Due to the possible repercussions of social media people have resorted to banning the use of social media within their households, such as Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet. Winslet told Fox News: “Let your kids climb trees. Take the device out of their hand. Play Monopoly! You go to a cafe and grown-ups are at one end of the table and children the other, on devices, not looking up.” Kate Winslet is not the only one who feels this way; Donna from White Plains, New York was previously a victim of bulimia, a

Social media plays an immense role in the way that stereotypes about attractiveness is conveyed in regards to body image. As Gerbner and Gross wrote in 1976, the cultivation theory states that high frequency viewers of television are more susceptible to media messages and the belief that they are real and valid. The subjection to social media can cause an idealistic view amongst young girls and women alike. Among the mechanisms of human agency none is more central or pervasive than beliefs of personal efficacy (Bandura, 1997). This belief that these body types are achievable can lead to females being dissatisfied within their own skin. The result of the discontent can potentially lead to eating disorders. Body dissatisfaction occurs when views of the body are negative and involves a perceived discrepancy between a person 's assessment of their actual and ideal body (Cash and Szymanski, 1995 and Grogan, 2008). It is estimated that approximately 50% of adolescent girls report being unhappy with their bodies (Bearman, Presnell, & Martinez, 2006). Surveys have revealed that the exposure to social media can cause body dissatisfaction, eating disorder symptoms’ and the concept that thin is “beautiful” amongst young girls and women (Botta 1999; Harrison and Hefner 2006; and Stice et al. 1994). With media influence, the question is the strength of the effect, studies indicate the effects are small in scale; they are likely to operate in accordance with particular differences in

Social Media has become an everyday task for most people. You wake up and check Facebook or Instagram to find out what happened in the eight hours you were asleep. But this has raised the question of can social media actually be bad for our view of body image? Can social media be the thing that is causing people to have low self-esteem, depression, and diseases such as anorexia nervosa? Body Image is the mental image a person has of themselves and this can be distorted by the way people are portrayed as beautiful in the media. This paper discusses social media’s potential negative outcomes such as eating disorders (Andsager, 407), skewed body image (Peppin, 1) also known as body dysmorphia (Perloff, 363), and how a certain body type is ideal

The media has an effect on people because it only focuses on one's body shape. According to ABC News the gross income of the dieting business is approximately 20 billion dollars. The money is obtained through: dieting books, weight loss supplements, and incisions to remove excessive weight to other parts of the body. ( ABC News staff, 2012).People see celebrities promoting these advertisement giving off the illusion that if they drink or take these supplements then they will be thinner. That helps promote off eating disorders such as anorexia because it shames a person of their bodies because physical attraction plays an important part in today’s media. So when women and young girls see these dieting advertisement it impacts their views

Feet together, thighs apart, this is called the starving art. Powerful quotes such as these sweep the internet on social media websites, leaving harsh marks on all who read them, especially the extremely impressionable youth of America. Today’s youth is becoming heavily reliant on social media outlets such as Tumblr, Instagram, and Facebook, but it comes with a problematic cost, mental disorders on the rise. Eating disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, and other mental disorders are rapidly becoming more and more common in hospitals all across the nation, and social media is fueling the fire. There are solutions, though, ones that can and will work. New solutions are being created, ideas such as better limits in social networking, a more healthy body image on billboards, and being more careful on what message companies are sending out to the new generation. We as a country need to take a stand and realize that our youth is being permanently scarred, and we can help prevent this. Disorders are a widespread problem, and one that is causing serious effects.

To lack self esteem means to lack confidence in yourself, essentially, its how you see your body, not only when you look in a mirror but the mental image of how you perceive your body. With a damaged self esteem an individual can feel worthless. Media can seriously damage a young teenagers self esteem with the way it portrays the female body. According to thinspiration alludes to symbolism normally shared via web-based networking media that urges a client to be thin. It is a self-perception that is perfect to numerous around the globe, particularly by models in media. Models are advertised so falsely that young girls may begin to wonder if there is something wrong with them or why they don’t look like what people perceive as beautiful. The way they view their body is affected negatively as a result. This then leads to feeling overwhelmed and low. Threads on fat shaming or discussions about ideal body weight can be found all over social media lowering the self esteem of venerable teenagers.. Thousands of images with hashtags of thinspiration and bonespiration (which just happens to be very thin images meant inspire certain body ideals) can be found all over social media With the promotion of unrealistic body images, adolescents begin to envy the way they look and viewing it in a negative manner. discuss how body image dissatisfaction is obtaining negative views about one’s physical body, shape and weight. Individuals with a big level of confidence know who they are. They think using logic and reason and discover companions that accept them for who they are. Individuals with a high level of confidence feel responsible for their lives and are aware of their gifts and abilities.. With studies showing self esteem is impacted by social media, anything on the internet can influence someone, somewhere. Negative images impact self esteem negatively and vise versa, meaning if body image is portrayed as unrealistic and negative, it will cause individuals to feel negatively about themselves.