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���������� Note: We don’t commonly post news or studies related to internet or video game addiction, but we are increasingly interested in how changing patterns of socialization around technology affect the mental health of all generations. This recent study looks at how compulsive use of social network site Facebook may contribute to compulsive/ disordered eating.

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Is Facebook Triggering Eating Disorders?

Health Newsline; 3/9/2014

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That Facebook has addictive qualities is not surprising, but the more worrisome part is that it could be endangering your health as well. A new research found avid Facebook use maybe leading young women towards disordered eating.

The social media site may be adding to the body image issues that young women and girls grapple with. It could be prompting them to make unhealthy comparisons with others.��The study found female students who are hooked to Facebook are inclined to harbor negative feelings about their bodies and to suffer from more anxiety than those who surf the Internet for other things like scientific research.

Lead author of the study, Pamela K. Keel, a professor of psychology at Florida State University stated, “Facebook provides a fun way to stay connected with friends but it also presents people, especially women, with a new medium through which they are confronted by a thin ideal that impacts their risk for eating disorders.”

Study involving 960 female college students

In order to determine whether frequent Facebook use can result in the onset of eating disorders, the researchers conducted a study involving 960 female college students. For the purpose of the study the subjects undertook a test to assess their eating habits and attitudes. In addition, they were evaluated on their average Facebook use, how important they considered ‘likes’ on the social media site and whether or not they ‘untagged’ photos of themselves.

Outcome of the study

The findings of the study suggest that Facebook may be downright toxic. The social media site may be offering an avenue for young people to compare themselves to others, obsess about their body image in ways that could prove dangerous.

“This is the first study to show that spending just 20 minutes on Facebook actually contributes to the risk of eating disorders by reinforcing women’s concerns about weight and shape and increasing anxiety,” Keel noted.

Girls who were avid Facebook users and placed more emphasis on receiving remarks and “likes” on their status updates, untagged unflattering photos of themselves and compared their own pictures to friends’ posted photos, were more likely to exhibit warning signs for eating disorders, the study found. Though the increased risk was moderate, ��the study found a positive link was found between duration of Facebook use and disordered eating.

Peer pressure and traditional media have long been criticized as risk factors for disordered eating. Apparently, Facebook combines those factors. “Your friends are posting carefully curated photos of themselves on their Facebook page that you are being exposed to constantly. It represents a very unique merging of two things that we already knew could increase risk for eating disorders,” said Keel.

The results were published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders in a paper titled “Do You ‘Like’ My Photo? Facebook Use Maintains Eating Disorder Risk.”

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