Of course, we all need to be concerned about young people’s exposure to social media, and recent research adds another concern – a link to eating disorders.
A study published in Eating and Weight Disorders in September 2024 found that each additional hour of total screen time and social media use was associated with a greater incidence of fear of weight gain and self-worth tied to weight. Data came from more than 10,000 children, aged 9 to 14 years. With increases in screen time, the participants also showed increases in compensatory behaviors to prevent weight gain (such as compulsive over-exercising), binge eating, and distress with binge eating two years later. Both problematic social media and mobile phone use were associated with higher odds of all eating disorder symptoms.
The scientists concluded that greater total screen time, social media use, and problematic screen use are associated with more eating disorder symptoms in early adolescence. They suggested that healthcare providers consider assessing children for problematic levels of screen use, and for disordered eating with high screen use.
It shouldn’t be construed from these results that this concerning association between screen time and disordered eating is isolated to 9- to 14-year-olds. That’s simply the age group covered in this study.
An increase in screen time has also been linked to an increase in being the recipient of cyberbullying. A study in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, September 2023, showed cyberbullying victimization was also associated with worry about weight gain, self-worth tied to weight, inappropriate compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain, and distress with binge eating. Interestingly, the perpetrators of cyberbullying had the same associations with the same unhealthy behaviors.
This study involved the same group of children as the 2024 study, with the ages limited to 10—to 14-year-olds. The scientists also suggested that healthcare providers consider assessing for cyberbullying and eating disorder symptoms in early adolescence and providing anticipatory guidance to parents and adolescents.
Binge-watching and binge-scrolling may also influence binge eating, according to Dr. Jason Nagata, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California—San Francisco. His 2021 study in the International Journal of Eating Disorders showed that each additional hour of screen time per day was associated with higher odds of binge-eating disorder one year later. Data was collected on more than 11,000 children between the ages of 9 and 10.
What’s the connection?
The strong connection between social media and eating disorders is multifactorial, including comparisons, exposure to impossible body ideals, and the constant repetition of compulsive behaviors. It exposes teens to greater numbers of different ideas. That can be both good and bad. Obviously, not everyone has healthy ideas about food and body image. They can share dangerous behaviors and those can start to seem normal.
Some advertisements aim to make people feel bad about themselves, especially their appearance, and to make consumers believe that the marketers’ products will bring about favorable change. It isn’t just what teens see—they know that others can see them, whether they are being bullied or receiving compliments.
Some of the problematic content is difficult to spot because diet culture has become so normalized that negative content with significant impact passes under parents’ radar. Social media feeds with people who are trying to persuade others to lose weight can feature one body type that may be unhealthfully thin and out of reach.
Check your adolescents’ social feeds for a range of body types, or content not related to personal image, such as hobbies, travel, or experiences. Adding accounts with a diversity of bodies and experiences to a social media feed can be protective against eating disorders.
Source : https://studyfinds.org/how-screen-time-fuels-eating-disorders-in-adolescence/