Popular social media platforms are promoting eating disorders
Twitter and Instagram posts are increasingly celebrating “bonespiration” and “thinspiration”, which encourage eating disorders, such as anorexia, a study has found. Researchers showed that there has been an alarming rise in the number of social media posts promoting extremely unhealthy body types and increasing pressure on teenage girls to try to become extremely thin, while contributing to a distorted view of their own body.
“Anorexia and extreme weight loss is a serious social and medical problem. This behaviour could seriously damage their psychological and physical health,” said lead author Catherine Talbot, psychologist at the University of Exeter in the UK.
The findings,showed an increase in the rise of “bonespiration” content, which features selfies by young women of their skeletal bodies featuring protruding collar bones, pencil-thin limbs, hip bones and spines in a variety of poses.
While twitter accounts with “thinspiration” images features photos of thin celebrities, and young people with protruding ribs collar bones and spines. Conversely, there are only a small number of posts with the hashtag “fitspiration” which features a greater prevalence of muscles and muscular bodies and inspires healthy bodies. These photos are a form of “social contagion,” which inspire young people to engage with risky practices, Talbot added.