Social Media and Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are on the rise in the United States, and social media sites are fueling the fire. The Center for Eating Disorders surveyed 600 Facebook users, and over half of them said Facebook contributes to insecurities about their bodies. While more women are negatively affected by Facebook, 40% of men said they had posted a comment about their bodies while only 20% of women have. As a teenager and young adult, Facebook is a vital part of our social lives and therefore almost impossible to avoid. Seeing pictures of yourself is also inevitable and instead of just dealing with seeing ourselves, we also deal with comparisons, as we can make one click and compare our past appearances or compare with our peers. In fact, 44% of people said they wished they had the body of one of their Facebook friends and feel depressed when browsing pictures.

A newer social networking site, Pintrest, is the latest to be linked to fueling eating disorders. Users create bulletin boards, like Travel, Decorating, Photography, etc., and attach pictures to these boards. Many users have a board dedicated to losing weight or being skinny with pictures of underweight models or sayings like "Make them regret the day they called you fat." With these pictures all over the site, users are bombarded with false ideas of what a good body is. A spokesperson for Pintrest recently said they are going to try and start monitoring these boards in order to not encourage these types of diseases.