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Social Media on the Developing Mind

            In today’s society, it is uncommon to come across somebody under the age of 30 who is not active on social media. Social media is the younger generation’s way of keeping in touch with each other regardless of distance and situation. With quarantine and social distancing going on this year, the internet and social media have been one of the most effective ways to keep up with what is going on in your friend’s and family’s lives. It has never been easier to see what someone up to thanks to networking apps like Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook- to name a few. Although on the surface, these sites and apps seem like a good and harmless way of communicating with others, they are actually creating an environment that is harming the youth’s mental health and in some cases resulting in serious disorders. Alongside all of the dog pictures, family updates, and funny videos, there are edited photos that set unrealistic body standards for young men and women, triggering content such as “thinspo,” and even communities that encourage eating disorders like “pro-ana” and “pro-mia.”

            Even though they are not as widely talked about, “it’s estimated that 30 million Americans have struggled with an eating disorder at some point in their lifetime” (Vanessa Caceres, U.S. News and World Report). In a recent study of about 12,000 teens in the Journal of School Nursing, it was discovered that “…nearly a fourth misperceive their weight,” and the young people who overestimate their weight were “…significantly more likely to engage in unhealthy dietary habits and have eating disorders.” These disorders may include but are not limited to anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and other binge eating disorders. While these mental health problems may not be completely caused by social media and the internet, these sites have exponentially increased the likelihood of young girls and boys unhappy with themselves and willing to turn to these extremes.

            Photo editing has been around for many years in the media, advertisements, and movies but now it is seen heavily on social networking sites. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner have been using applications such as Photoshop and Facetune to enhance themselves in photos, making their skin clearer, teeth whiter, and body more “desirable” to their audiences. Not only do female celebrities use editing to change their appearance but males as well, creating the standards for men to be bigger and stronger. These photos have made viewers believe that what they are seeing is real and because of the engagement on the posts, they make viewers believe that the distorted reality they are viewing is the standard for beauty. These edited posts gain millions of likes and thousands of compliments on their appearance, making it seem like this certain body type and these physical characteristics are what others should aspire to be when really they are fake. It has been proposed to put a warning on edited photos online, but nothing has been put into motion yet, meaning nobody will know that what they are seeing is not real. According to Dr. Michael Rich in his article “Social Media and Adolescent Body Image: What to Know”, teenagers spend an average of six-nine hours a day using social media, meaning most of our youth can and most likely will be exposed to these popular edited images. Based on two different studies regarding young male and female exposure to the media “adolescent girls generally want to weigh less while adolescent boys want to be bigger and stronger” (Morris and Katzman, The Impact of the Media on Eating Disorders in Children and Adolescents). With easy access to these celebrity accounts and posts online, young minds can easily be persuaded into believing that these naturally unattainable standards are what they should look like. These impossible beauty standards for young minds create body image issues and contribute to the development of issues such as Body Dysmorphic Disorder, a mental disorder characterized by the inability to stop thinking about one’s appearance, repeatedly checking the mirror, or in some cases being so worried about appearance that you may avoid social situations.

            Social media sites have gradually been adding ways to filter out content that could be potentially harmful. For example, Tiktok banning the hashtag #anorexia, Instagram taking down or marking triggering content as sensitive, and Tumblr bringing up the national eating disorder association hotline when searching the words bulimia or anorexia, but even with these safety precautions in place, harmful content can still find its way onto your feed. Posts labeled as “thinspiration” or “thinspo”, deliberately misspelled terms such as an0r3x1a, as well as quotes encouraging restrictive eating like “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” can easily make its way around these safety precautions set in place on these apps. The Meadowglade, a rehabilitation facility specializing in mental health and eating disorders, brings attention to the pro-ana community and the content shared that is related to it. These communities exist mainly for people who believe that anorexia is a choice in their life that they are fully in control of and is a way to reach the perfection they desire. The Meadowglade states that “One of the dangers of pro-ana content on social media is the fact that all people can become exposed to it,” because of how easily a search for seemingly healthy things like diet or fitness can bring you to a plethora of pro-ana content. No matter how strict a social media networking site gets on restricting its content and removing certain posts, there will always be loopholes for destructive and detrimental messages to come through. On the video sharing app TikTok that is widely used by the younger generation, viewing or searching for a video related to losing weight or restrictive eating can lead to seeing tons more videos like that on your For You Page which is an endless feed of videos shown to you based on your likes, searches, and engagement on videos. Because it is so easy for creators of harmful content to get around the safety measures in place online, preteens and teens can either be accidentally exposed to these posts or can easily find them through simple searches. When young and impressionable minds are constantly having pictures and videos shown on their feed about pro-ana, thinspiration, or restrictive eating habits, it can lead them to develop these habits or, at the very least, begin to view them as normal. This can be harmful to their mental health and dieting/eating habits, eventually leading to more serious issues in the future.

            These sites alone may not be the sole cause of such serious issues in our youth, but they add fuel to the fire that is harming young minds. There are many concerns about the dangerous, easily accessible content posted online for everybody to see. Social media was originally designed to be a place filled with information and friendships, but due to these unrealistic beauty standards constantly being advertised to developing minds, it has morphed into a harmful and toxic community. Reasons such as this are why so many parents are hesitant to let their children join the online world. The exact reason for such issues cannot be pinpointed to one cause, but biological and psychological factors are heavily considered. Family history, stress, and other underlying mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, or OCD put someone at a greater risk for developing an eating disorder. Parents, teachers, friends, and other family members should be educated on and familiarize themselves with any signs or symptoms that their child could possibly display.

            Many people use social media in their day to day lives in harmless ways like updating their Snapchat stories, tweeting about their daily activities, posting selfies on Instagram, and sharing a family photo on Facebook, but nobody looks deeper into the content that is shared and so easily accessible to our youth. More often than not, heavily edited celebrity photos go overlooked by the older generations. Triggering content takes days or even weeks to be flagged or deleted, thinspiration and posts from pro eating disorder communities are shown onto our feeds, and seemingly mundane searches can lead to a villainous rabbit hole of posts encouraging excessive weight loss and restrictive eating. There is more to these fun apps than what we see on our outwardly innocent feeds and timelines. While you and I may be seeing a video of a cat playing the piano, there is a young, developing mind seeing photos and videos of what has been posed as the beauty standard and posts encouraging them to take drastic measures to achieve that look.