An investigation into the effect of social media (particularly those online communities that rely on images and pictorial content such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr) on the mindset of female adolescents concerning eating disorders.
Reasons why the topic was chosen:
At least 400 web sites attract young people with “ana” and “mia” nicknames for anorexia and bulimia. These online communities offer tips on crash dieting, binging, vomiting and hiding weight loss from concerned friends and family. They depict eating disorders as a “lifestyle choice” rather than accept it as a mental illness.
Group dieting is a growing phenomenon. Whilst organisations like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers adopt a responsible attitude towards group dieting, stressing mutual encouragement, face to face meetings and positive reinforcement, these organisations appeal mostly to older females. On the opposite end of the age spectrum, a scary number of young females use web sites and blogs where the true identities of individuals wont be known and the purpose is to challenge females to
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As a relatively new trend, understandably much less has been written about the impact of social media on eating disorders. Nevertheless, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that social media is perhaps even more persistent and destructive than mass media when it comes to promoting eating disorders.
According to an Internet Trends study reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on 6th March 2014, the number of pro anorexia and pro bulimia sites increased 470 per cent between 2006 and 2008. Since 2008, the number of postings has continued to rise, causing many social networks in recent months to introduce policies aimed at minimising users' self-harm. all the same, the #ana hashtag on Instagram has more than 3 million posts, and #thin has more than 900,000