Think about the last time you picked up and unlocked your mobile phone. What apps did you visit first? How long did you spend on these apps? Did you see something that affected your mood? If so, was it a positive or negative effect?

When you closed your phone and put it down, how did you feel for the rest of the day? When was the next time you picked up your phone?

I promise there’s a point to this mental exercise. The point is to analyze how our interactions with our phones affect us and (whether they) stay with us long after we put our phones down.

This is the question under scrutiny by researchers all over the world who are examining social media and its effects on myriad mental issues, including eating disorders.

Social media companies know what they’re doing. It’s easier than ever to be swept away in an algorithm and get lost in the scroll. It takes a lot of human discipline to snatch ourselves out of that scroll and get back to our off-screen lives.

In this post, I try to uncover:

whether there is a correlation between social media use and the development of eating disorders,
what’s being done to ensure the apps aren’t delivering harmful content to young users, and
how we, as humans, can develop healthy relationships with our devices.

A research caveat

We’re still in the early stages of *really* knowing whether social media content is directly to blame for specific eating disorders. In order to have enough data to make this claim, researchers would need to follow individuals and track their social media use over years and years.

We do, however, have anecdotal data that reveal social media’s effects on users’ body image. Most of the information researchers have gathered thus far comes from self-reported surveys, which can have their own biases. I feel it’s important to make this clear before we dive in.

Evidence of social media use and poor body image

Multiple studies have found that there is indeed a link between social media content and use and the development of poor body image or poor self-esteem. This is particularly relevant to teenage users of social media, a population that is more vulnerable and less cognitively developed.

Journal of Eating Disorders, 2024

This February 2024 paper reveals the results of a study that looked into whether social media platforms “influence eating disorder pathology, appearance ideals, and pressure to conform to these ideals.”

The study issued a questionnaire to boys and girls between the ages of 16 and 19. One-quarter of these participants said they spent four hours or more per day on social media.

Among the sample of 1,558 young people (53% of whom were girls), the girls appeared to be particularly at risk, but the internalization of body ideals was specific to gender: “a thin ideal being more prevalent in girls, and a muscular ideal being more common in boys.”

A more platform-specific result found that 80% of girls felt Instagram and TikTok negatively influenced how they felt about their appearance, leading to “higher levels of appearance pressure from the media.”

Researchers concluded that a “clear pattern of associations between social media platforms, ED pathology, internalization of body ideals, and perceived pressure was found in this study.”

Note: It should be mentioned that some of these respondents may have already experienced poor body image, and therefore were likely more susceptible to disordered messaging.

PLOS Global Public Health, 2023

This literature review dug into 50 different studies from 17 countries to examine the relationship between social media use, body image, and eating disorders among a wider age group (10 to 24 years old).

Results: The evidence showed “that social media usage leads to body image concerns, eating disorders/disordered eating and poor mental health via the mediating pathways of:

social comparison,
thin/fit ideal internalization, and
objectification.”

Journal of Eating Disorders, 2023

Another literature review examined highly visual social media (HVSM) use and its correlation to eating disorders and disordered eating.

Results: “Total time spent on HVSM, preoccupation with photo editing, and posting with blurred demarcation of real vs. virtual presentations is associated with disordered eating/eating disorder development.”

Researchers concluded that “the use of unregulated and profit-driven social media platforms can increase the risk for eating disorders. To use these platforms for positive influence, there is a need to have more transparency, and involvement of clinicians, researchers, and educators.”

Social media’s influence on appearance standards

We don’t necessarily need these studies to prove that social media can negatively affect how we see ourselves. A quick scroll through any feed can lure us into the following traps.

Unrealistic image portrayals

The number of filters users can apply to their images seems to grow by the day. Users can completely reshape their faces and bodies, presenting unrealistic image standards that the average person can’t attain in real life.

Comparisons

When we see images on social media, both altered and unaltered, it’s human nature to want to compare ourselves to others.

“Social media use [has been] found to be detrimental because it led people to compare themselves to what they viewed on social media.” *Source*

Personal story: From an early age, I constantly compared myself to the figures I saw in the media. I only assumed that the women on TV and in movies (young, thin, and white) were what I should aspire to look like.

Disordered messaging

Pro-eating disorder accounts have been around for as long as the internet has existed. These accounts romanticize and glorify disordered behaviors with content that can easily trigger or set someone up to develop their own insecurities. They may even go into gruesome detail about how to engage in certain behaviors. Measures are being taken to restrict these accounts (read more under “Lawsuits”), but, as with any technology, users have found ways to get around these restrictions.

Unwieldy algorithms

You can’t talk about social media without acknowledging the power of the algorithms. The moment you interact with a piece of content, this information gets swept up into the system and soon you’re fed with similar content to keep you engaged with the platform for as long as possible. Without controls in place to prevent this, you could easily and endlessly be exposed to accounts that deliver untrue or harmful messages.

What’s being done about it?

Legislation

Since the dawn of this technology, mental health advocates’ antennae have been raised. In response, they’ve introduced numerous bills into legislative discussion over the years.

The Kids Online Safety Act, for example, has recently been passed in the U.S. Senate. If passed into law, it would require social media companies to prevent and mitigate content that might be harmful to young users, such as suicide, eating disorders, and substance abuse. It also would require independent audits and research into how social media platforms affect the well-being of users under the age of 17.

Lawsuits

In late 2023, multiple states brought lawsuits against social media companies like Meta for “contributing to the youth mental health crisis” by delivering content and designing features to keep children glued to their devices. Source

Since then, Instagram (one of Meta’s companies) has unveiled a new account type for teens. According to Instagram’s website, Instagram Teen Accounts require parental permission for teens to use. These accounts automatically receive the highest restriction setting for sensitive content, which limits the type of content they can see (e.g., the promotion of cosmetic procedures).

Users can also flag accounts that they think might need extra support. (This has happened to my Recovery Writes Instagram account many times!) If you’ve been flagged, you’ll see pop-ups like the ones below that can direct you to resources.

Screenshot%2B2024-09-25%2Bat%2B10.07.55.jpg

How to improve your relationship with social media

Improve your social media literacy

Each time you open social media, think about your intention. Approach your use of social media with a careful and critical eye. Remind yourself that not everything you see on social media conveys the full picture of a user's life. In practicing these behaviors, you’re strengthening your social media literacy.

Block or report harmful content

Social media platforms’ mechanisms for blocking and reporting harmful content aren’t perfect, but they’re a start. Most give you a chance to explain why you’re blocking the content, which can give the platforms more data to work with when devising protective measures.

Take a digital detox

It’s more important than ever to learn how to step away from social media when it isn’t serving you. It may help to set boundaries about when and where you use your phone.

For example, maybe you set aside five minutes in the middle of the day to check social media, then block it for the rest of the day. Expose yourself to real-world elements, like a walk in nature. These digital resets are good for the nervous system and can help us feel recentered in our world.

Limit your time

If you don’t trust yourself to step away when you feel you’ve had enough, set timers on your phone. Or download an app like Screen Zen that lets you set timebound access rules for specific groups of apps.

Post the types of content you’d want to see

If you’re less of a scroller and more of a poster, think carefully about the content you share with the world. The best way to be an advocate for your audience is to espouse the values you’d want to see from your favorite creators.

Final thoughts

Social media is constantly evolving. There may always be harmful content that social media companies aren’t quite able to rein in. As a user of these platforms, it’s our responsibility to make sure we’re using social media in a way that serves us, not beats us down.

If you feel like social media isn’t doing you any favors, if it’s leaving you feeling worse than when you signed on, pay attention to these feelings. Remember why you created a social media account in the first place. It was likely because you wanted to find connection, inspiration, or support. Social media can absolutely provide these things. But it’s up to us to be conscious consumers.

Social media and eating disorders: The research, the correlation, and what we can do about it

A research caveat