Starving for Perfection

In this day and age it is essentially impossible to avoid social media. The 20th century had such a dramatic rise of technology, and with technology comes social media. Social media can bring people together, hundreds of miles can feel like nothing when it’s so simple to tweet someone or tag them in a picture faster than you can finish reading this sentence. But for every positive attribute that stems from social media, there is an equally awful side. Research shows that young women are easily influenced and pressured by what they see on social media and more popular social media gets the more women develop eating disorders. Bullying, photoshop, and so much more can emerge from popular apps like Instagram and Twitter. This affects all users but especially young, impressionable girls. Rumors, high expectations, judgment, and bullying can all lead to eating disorders and poor self image.

Eating disorders are so commonly seen in TV shows, blogs, and almost any other social media profiles, making it such a household name can lead to it seeming “normal” or even the newest fad. Before the 1970s it would be difficult to even find someone who knew the definition of “anorexia” or “bulimia”. The first time those words were introduced was in a book written in 1973 written by Hilde Bruch called, ”Eating Disorders: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa, and the Person Within”. It was so rare in that age to find anyone who even could comprehend having a disorder, let alone actually suffer from one. Today, 10-15% of all Americans suffer from some type of serious eating disorder. Social media glorifies skinny as beautiful, even if their so called “beautiful” Instagram models are morphed and stretched using photoshop.Teens are spending more than one-third of their days using media such as online video or music — nearly nine hours on average, according to a new study from the family technology education non-profit group, Common Sense Media. For tweens, those between the ages of 8 and 12, the average is nearly six hours per day. At such impressionable ages it is no mystery why the number of diagnosed cases of eating disorders has skyrocketed in the last decade. Many famous musicians, actors, and other social media influencers have come out about having body image problems, these people our generation’s youth looks up to.

One prime example of that happening is Eugenia Cooney.She is a 22­ year ­old American Youtuber who has rapidly accumulated a following of 800,000 subscribers since starting her ​Youtube channel ​3 years ago. ​She rose to fame for her emo style and dangerously thin body. Her videos do not directly promote eating disorders but with her style and fashion vlogs exposing 50% or more of her body, girls are bound to notice. Every little girl grows up to want to be like her idol, but what if that idol is an 88 pound, 5 foot 9 inch youtube and instagram sensation? She gains upwards of 8,000 followers