Eating disorders: Tik-Tok videos endanger your body’s image lifespan
Watching your favorite influencer on TikTok exercising, showing off her perfect body or explaining her diet plan – that sounds harmless at first. However, it is not uncommon for such videos to show disordered eating behaviour: young women who impose starvation diets on themselves, joke about their eating disorders or give tips on how best to overcome hunger. This is when it becomes dangerous for the young followers, as a recent study shows.
Negative effect after just eight minutes
Researchers at Charles Sturt University in Australia wanted to know what effects watching such “anorexia videos” can have on the body image of young women. They conducted a study with 273 TikTok users between the ages of 18 and 28. The participants did not have an eating disorder. But after just seven to eight minutes of watching TikTok videos with protagonists with eating disorders, a negative influence on satisfaction with one’s own body was observed.
The study was conducted in two groups of roughly equal size: a control group and an investigation group. While the participants in the control group were shown videos that showed, for example, recipes, nature and entertainment, the participants in the investigation group saw video content that contained explicit messages about eating disorders.
This included, for example, young women forbidding themselves from eating, making jokes about their own eating disorders, or giving tips on how to fight hunger by sucking on ice cubes and chewing gum. Videos of very slim women in bikinis or working out were also shown, promoting the way to lose weight quickly.
Beauty Ideals are imprinted
Using various questionnaires before and after the sessions, the scientists investigated whether video consumption had an influence on the participants’ eating habits, their own body satisfaction or the adoption of societal ideals of beauty.
The result: The effects of the video content on one’s own body image varied between the groups. Satisfaction decreased in both groups, but, as expected, it decreased significantly more in the study group than in the control group. Social ideals of beauty had become less important in the control group, while they had become significantly more important in the study group due to video consumption.
Anoxeria-promoting content widespread
The survey also revealed that 64 percent of participants had previously been exposed to content that addressed or potentially promoted eating disorders such as anorexia. This shows the wide reach of such content and the risk it poses.
The researchers suggest limiting such content on social media platforms that promote eating disorders, because eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia can have serious consequences. Rapid and excessive weight loss can even be life-threatening. Mental illnesses and suicide attempts are also common.
Weight obsession on social media in the UAE
In the UAE, weight obsession is a growing concern, fuelled by social media platforms that glorify unrealistic beauty standards. Instagram and TikTok, in particular, showcase influencers promoting extreme diets, quick-fix weight loss products, and body-altering procedures, often without highlighting the associated health risks.
This creates immense pressure, especially on young people, to conform to these ideals. The promotion of thinness as synonymous with beauty has led to increased cases of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. While some platforms have begun implementing guidelines to curb harmful content, the need for more responsible social media usage and awareness is critical.