Eating disorders and the internet: a dangerous mix

According to Association Against Anorexia and Bulimia (ACAB), 11% of young Spaniards are at risk of suffering some type of eating disorder. It is a health problem that particularly affects girls, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

To this we must add another factor that enters into the problem: Internet content that encourages people to continue with harmful or pathological food dynamics.

Eating disorders and their footprint on the Internet

In the annual report produced by the ACAB in collaboration with the Internet Quality Agency (IQUA) that analyzes the increase in Internet content related to serious eating disorders, it is reflected that the group most prone to these diseases are young women and adolescents (in an age between 12 and 24 years). In addition, it is estimated that there is a high vulnerability among those who visit these web pages, since in most cases (75%) they are minors.

In summary, The misuse of social networks and its relationship with eating disorders are a problem that especially affects young underage girls. with a worrying prevalence.

Pathological hashtags

In a study of the Internet Quality Agency (IQUA) held in 2010 for the Image and Self-esteem Foundation it was revealed that there were about 2,500,000 posts tagged with the hashtag #anorexia and almost 4,000,0000 behind #ana and #mia.

For this reason, in 2012 the popular image and “addicted to like”, Instagram, took action and included in its list of prohibited tags, (that is, they would not get search results): #probulimia, #proanorexia, #loseweight, #thinspo, #thinspiration (thin "Thinness" and "inspiration), and so on.

Unfortunately, that measure did not eradicate the problem. Proof of this were the results of the study Dangerous hashtags on social media what Laura Martin-Pérez, DAIL linguist, published in the summer of 2015. In it, he discovered new techniques from Internet users that made hashtags more difficult to track.

A problem that resists

Up to 1,005 tag combinations that appeared alongside #ana and #mia, such as #skinny (skinny) or recently, #thinspiration, short for "thin" and "inspiration" (thin / inspiration), in addition to other labels that all psychologists would recommend monitoring and that go beyond the food issue, such as #sue (suicide), #deb (depression) or #cat (self harm; suicide).

Internet as a risk environment

In a more recent study conducted in 2016, the Dialogue Table for the Prevention of Eating Disorders of Catalonia also examined our search habits, concluding that 31.6% will look for “how to lose weight fast ”, 11.6%“ extreme diets to lose weight ”, 10.8% blogs and pro-ana and pro-mia forums and 5.2%“ how barf".

Furthermore, it was emphasized that frequenting social networks and spending hours online is linked to an increased risk of eating disorders and concerns regarding body image.

The conclusion that can be drawn is that our internet search habits reflect the extent to which we are not immune to cultural pressure for beauty standards. Young adolescent girls are even more sensitive and prone to being negatively affected by this content and, therefore, the use of networks social networks becomes a risky practice for this Internet user profile (which does not mean that the web will be harmful in all cases).

The power of influencers

The 2015 model and Instagram star Essena O'Neill, 18, she revealed to the world that behind every photo of her was a great deal of emotional suffering and food restriction and created a website to help other adolescents and young people to disengage from the follows and the likes. She was a influencer, one of the most popular people on Instagram, and had more than 700,000 followers, data that helps to get an idea about the power of influence that Essena had.

The weight that these young models have on the Internet is overwhelming, given that 88% of young women declare that they follow influencers through social networks, according to the Annual Study of Social Networks 2016, from the IAB Spain. The fact that this kind of role models of the network may be involved in potentially pathological food dynamics raises the alarms of various sectors related to health.

Use the social network to combat the pathology

The precedent created by the young instagramer has led other people to fight the food pathology on the web. These are initiatives in which the Internet is used to spread the critical spirit and empowerment aimed at preventing the potential harmful effects of the internet related to eating disorders.

Following the path of Essenia O'Neill, a young woman has been documenting her recovery on her Instagram under the hashtag #anorexiarecovery. In other words, it has invested the pro-pathological use of the social network to set an example and promote a way of life away from eating disorders. In 2016 there are already several cases of new influencers who have followed in the footsteps of Essena O'Neill, and there are also specific claims of celebrities who criticize the social pressures that keep many young women out of habit healthy.

Social media remains potentially dangerous

Nevertheless, Even today we can consider social networks potentially dangerous, at least for that risk group made up of girls and adolescents.

Laura Martin-Pérez considers it quite easy to keep a record of these pathological labels, apparently the administrations do not apply measures that go along this line, so there are not enough control measures over the contents that can have a negative and harmful effect on minors under age. The contents in which apology for anorexia or the bulimia in a more or less veiled way, they continue to be a reality on the Internet.

So we must take one more step to fight against these publications, denouncing them as adult users. Let us remember that minors still do not have that critical look that allows us to discern between health and extremism or pathology.