Question: Can you share techniques and tools about how to keep dangerous eating disorder content away from teens? What are some tips about how to spot concerning content that parents and providers can share with teens and families? 

 

Answer: From curiosity to photos suggested by social media algorithms, teens may intentionally or unintentionally come across content that promotes or showcases disordered eating behaviors. Adolescents who are vulnerable to developing unhealthy eating habits or already have eating disorders may experience a more adverse reaction after seeing this content. Additionally, watching too much media that showcases idealized bodies or unhealthy eating habits, such as pornography and “mukbangs”, is associated with higher risk for disordered eating among some teenagers. Even viewing content focused on idealized body image or over-focusing on fitness, also called ‘fitspiration’ content, has been associated with more negative body image among viewers. Individuals whose profiles contain pro-eating disorder content are often linked to followers who also post pro-eating disorder content, creating a reinforcing cycle and encouraging connections to people who may be posting because they are struggling with eating disorder behaviors.  

Tips for avoiding exposure to pro-eating disorder content: 

  • Be aware of keywords and terms which may be associated with disordered eating. Some examples of terms to avoid (or to be on the lookout for as a parent with concerns) may be thinspiration or “thinspo”, fitspiration or “fitspo”, mukbangs, and explicitly pro-eating disorder content such as pro-anorexia or “pro-ana” content.  
  • Talk with teens about what they see online and about unrealistic and unhealthy habits. Unfortunately, trends on social media change constantly, and new keywords or video trends that contain depictions of disordered eating may arise. Therefore, it is important for parents and clinicians to ask teens questions about the content that they see online and have conversations about unrealistic body types and unhealthy approaches to losing weight. Encourage teens to talk with parents and caregivers if they encounter content that may be harmful.  
  • Help teens develop general media literacy skills. Teens can use media literacy skills to help spot concerning or potentially misleading content. Media literacy can be especially helpful in cases where certain video trends or hashtags have some positive and some harmful content. For example, the “What I Eat in a Day” video trend may show some videos with healthy, balanced meals and other videos depicting very low caloric intake or other disordered eating behaviors.  
  • Support healthy behaviors and language at home. There are things families can do at home that are protective for healthy eating and physical activity, supportive of healthy body image, and preventive for disordered eating. These include having family meals together and avoiding talk about weight or calories at mealtime. Additional topics to avoid include "weight teasing”, discussing diets, labeling foods as “good” or “bad”, or placing a lot of value or emphasis on body size.  

What if a teen was already exposed to pro-eating disorder content? 

In the case that an adolescent has encountered eating disorder content or content they are otherwise uncomfortable with, the teen can: 

  • “Dislike” specific posts 
  • Block unwanted accounts  
  • Filter out hashtags and keywords they don’t want to see 
  • Reset their feed if needed 

This can prevent teens from seeing content of a specific type or from a certain account and can reset their Instagram Explore pages (or feeds on other platforms) from content that they may have shown interest in before. Another option could be to encourage teens to search for body-positive and “ED recovery” content on social media to prompt the algorithm to bring more positive content onto their feeds. 

Lean into positive content: There are many social media accounts celebrating #HealthAtAnySize on social media. You can explore this hashtag with your child or support their exploration of this type of content. 

Resources 

References 

  • Arseniev-Koehler, A., Lee, H., McCormick, T., & Moreno, M. A. (2016). #Proana: Pro-Eating Disorder Socialization on Twitter. The Journal of adolescent health: official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 58(6), 659–664.   
  • Dane, A., & Bhatia, K. (2023). The social media diet: A scoping review to investigate the association between social media, body image and eating disorders amongst young people. PLOS Global Public Health, 3(3), e0001091 
  • Griffiths, S., Mitchison, D., Murray, S. B., & Mond, J. M. (2018). Pornography use in sexual minority males: Associations with body dissatisfaction, eating disorder symptoms, thoughts about using anabolic steroids and quality of life. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 52(4), 339-348. 
  • Jett, S., LaPorte, D. J., & Wanchisn, J. (2010). Impact of exposure to pro-eating disorder websites on eating behaviour in college women. European eating disorders review: the journal of the Eating Disorders Association, 18(5), 410–416. 
  • Jerónimo F, Carraça EV. Effects of fitspiration content on body image: a systematic review. Eat Weight Disord. 2022 Dec;27(8):3017-3035. doi: 10.1007/s40519-022-01505-4. Epub 2022 Nov 18. PMID: 36401082; PMCID: PMC9676749. 
  • Von Ash, T., Huynh, R., Deng, C., & White, M. A. (2023). Associations between mukbang viewing and disordered eating behaviors. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 56(6), 1188-1198. 

 

 

Age: 13-17 

Topics: Dangerous, Eating Disorder, Techniques and Tools, Tips, Spotting concerning content, Providers, Parents, Teens, Families.  

Role: Clinician