• Question: To what extent do you think the media has an affect on whether someone suffers from an eating disorder or not?

    Asked by anon-249998 on 14 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Nuru Noor

      Nuru Noor answered on 14 Mar 2020:

      Really important question 👍 Yes I think the media have a huge effect on this – especially when you look at how famous people are shown on tv, in films and on magazine covers – one good thing is they are beginning to realise this and starting to stop airbrushing photos and things like that – which is definitely a good start!

    • Photo: Sophie Arthur

      Sophie Arthur answered on 15 Mar 2020:

      Great question. Like in many situations, the media has a huge influence on this. So many times did I as a young girl see models and celebrities on magazines and TV etc being highlighted for how slim or beautiful they looked, and I didnt relate to them and felt awful about myself. I still do. And then there are magazines slating celebs for putting on some weight or looking not so glam.
      It is great now that you see more and more body positivity campaigns and shops using models of various sizes and shapes, and no longer airbrushing photos and celebrating being your natural self. We are a long way from it being sorted but I think we are taking a step in the right direction

    • Photo: M S

      M S answered on 16 Mar 2020:

      I think social media and the media in general push ideals on what is it liked to be acceptable. It puts pressure on people about what they have to be and whats okay. I think they have a big impact on making people believe that some things are normal while others are not

    • Photo: Ioana Grigoras

      Ioana Grigoras answered on 16 Mar 2020:

      Hi, Lydia, as I answered in the other question you asked, I believe that eating disorders stem from both genetic and environmental factors.
      –
      I do not work in the field, therefore I don’t know very much about it. I found some studies that support an additive risk of genetic and environmental factors for eating disorders. This suggests that there is a risk associated with just genetics factors, but if you add the environmental factors, it increases the risk of developing an eating disorder. In this way, some people could have the responsible genes, but without the environmental triggers, they wouldn’t develop an eating disorder.
      –
      I think the media has an important role in what type of people it promotes as ‘attractive’ and, therefore, in creating the expectations of what is considered attractive for everyone else. I wish it promoted more of a ‘you are beautiful just the way you are’ message and I think some companies have been trying to do that recently, so I am hopeful that the situation will improve in the future.

    • Photo: Andrea Kusec

      Andrea Kusec answered on 19 Mar 2020:

      Really great question – the relationship between media use and mental health is still in its early stages. What we understand about the relationship so far is that there is an “upside-U” link. Basically, if you don’t use social media or watch TV/movies at all this can negatively affect your health because you might connect less with other people, you might not get social approval from others (e.g., “everyone watches Game of Thrones, but I don’t so I can’t participate in these conversations and I feel left out”), and too much media use affects mental health because you’re constantly bombarded with stereotypes/information that might affect how you evaluate yourself (such as comparing yourself to supermodels). A little bit of media use is healthy, but I definitely think it’s easy to use it too much which can affect how one feels about their looks and can lead to an eating disorder. When I was younger I definitely compared myself a lot to the beautiful women you see on TV, and it made me feel awful, but I ended up finding other people who also felt awful comparing themselves to movie stars, and we decided to ignore such media and instead bonded over our love of anime 😀

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