Social Media has always wielded power on its consumers. It influences mental, physical, and social health. Adolescent girls are a constant victim of the negatives social media can bring. Exposure to videos and photos on social media platforms can contribute to body image issues and eating disorders (ED) among teenage girls, which can lead to serious mental health issues, such as suicidal behavior.
In an article by The 19th, experts wrote “Videos and pictures on image-based social media platforms can trigger intense episodes of self-comparison in adolescent and teen girls. Because of their still-developing brains, they may process this self-comparison in ways that can pose real risks to their mental health—and lives.” Suicide is the second leading cause of death among those with anorexia nervosa, and suicidal behavior is more likely among those with bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder.
“The more teenage girls are on social media and exposed to image-based social media in particular, the more likely they are to have poor body image,” said Amanda Raffoul, an instructor at Harvard with STRIPED (Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders). She noted that pictures and videos on social media can harbor unrealistic appearance ideals. When young girls are constantly bombarded with these ideas, it can alter their perceptions of themselves, especially in adolescence. These posts can cause them to pose the question, “Why don’t I look like her?” Teen girls’ negative views of their bodies can steer them towards a self-deprecating mindset, and harmful dieting practices.
Image-based platforms like Instagram and TikTok often force users by default to compare themselves to the people they are seeing online. In a study by the Pew Research Center, 92% of girls said they used YouTube, 73% said they used TikTok, 69% used Instagram, and 64% said they used Snapchat. They further found that girls were more likely to say they spend too much time on social media compared to boys, and more likely to admit that it would be hard for them to give up social media.
A driving problem of eating disorders and self-harming behavior is the acceptance of body image issues in teen girls as being “normal.” This can create a dangerous environment for teens to engage in on social media, where the images they see can make them question their appearance and value, but is overlooked as “typical.”
In adolescents, the part of the brain that controls emotions develops faster than the part that controls judgement and critical thinking. For young girls, this means responding emotionally to online content before having the ability to critically weigh the implications or consequences. They can begin to form the idea that they need to engage in content like weight loss tips to feel happy and successful.
Signs of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders should not be brushed off or normalized, and parents should pay attention to what content their children may be viewing. However, social media shouldn’t be scapegoated as the root of all problems. In addition to being attuned to how social media can impact their children, parents must also be aware that social media isn’t inherently bad. It isn’t always the root cause of mental health disorders and ED’s, and there can often be deeper underlying issues, such as mental health disorders.
Janis Whitlock, a senior advisor of the Jed Foundation (JED), a nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide in American teens and young adults, stresses that real help for young girls means teaching them to develop a sense of awareness about how social media makes them feel, and monitor themselves for any negative feelings, such as depression or agitation, especially when they feel rooted in self-comparison. It’s best to step away from social media when these feelings arise, and learn to not engage in it, or block it.
“Our young people need to have more self-awareness and we need to have more systems to cultivate that in them earlier,” said Whitlock.
