Social media health risk link

PEOPLE who check social media multiple times a day are more likely to be unhappy with their appearance, according to a new report that has linked low body confidence with health issues.

Australia’s biggest eating disorder charity The Butterfly Foundation will today release new research on “body confidence” which will call for “body dissatisfaction” to be treated as a “critical” public health issue.

The research includes a survey of more than 5000 people which found more than 73 per cent of respondents wish they could change the way they looked and more than 53 per cent “rarely” or “never” speak positively about their appearance.

It also found that people who used social media “multiple times per day” were more likely to rate themselves as “dissatisfied” or very “dissatisfied” with their appearance.

People who said they did not participate in organised sports, or spend time with friends or family, or “never” read the news or magazine were also more likely to be unhappy with their looks, with the report speculating that “isolation” could contribute to body dissatisfaction.

Nearly one in five said they had attempted to “change” to look like people on social media.

The report states that body dissatisfaction can be a risk factor in the development of depression, risk-taking behaviours including sexual behaviours and smoking, and poorer academic achievement during adolescence.

“Australians define their appearance as important to them, but are frequently dissatisfied with their appearance and as a result are engaging in disordered thoughts and behaviours, resulting in poorer engagement, health and wellbeing,” the report says.