Science & Technology, UK (Commonwealth Union) – A scoping review conducted by the University College London (UCL) has found that those between 10-24 years old using social media sites may possibly face the risk of forming image concerns, eating disorders and poor mental health.
The study, which appeared in PLOS Global Public Health, evaluated the evidence from 50 studies in 17 nations discovering that social media leads to risks of social comparison and enhances the idea of maintaining the figure.
Researchers also indicated that social media trends, access to pro-eating disorder content as well as social media platforms that make appearance the center stage, further fuse the problem.
Beauty filtering technology, have become increasingly popular in recent years. These filters are features on social media platforms that allow users to alter their appearance, often smoothing out skin and making faces look slimmer. While they may seem harmless, using beauty filters have been known to have damaging effects on both our mental and physical health.
The promotion of unrealistic beauty standards, encouraging cosmetic procedures, and leading individuals to neglect their actual skin health, these filters can have a significant impact on an individual’s well-being. Quite often the false enhanced image can put pressure on the individual to maintain this image often resulting in the individual losing confidence to face the public in real life events have been seen across the world.
Researchers of the study also revealed that young females with a high BMI (Body mass index) and existing body image concerns were at most risk of being impacted by the content viewed online.
The study was conducted by Dr Komal Bhatia, a Research Fellow at the UCL Institute for Global Health, along with Alexandra Dane, who studied on the MSc Global Health and Development at UCL.
“Our findings show that social media usage is a plausible risk factor for the development of eating disorders. And, based on the scale of social media usage amongst young people, this issue is worthy of attention as an emerging global public health issue,” explained Ms. Dane the lead author of the UCL Institute for Global Health.
Eating disorders are characterized with low opinion of the body image together with a very high preoccupation with weight and shape. This may manifest itself with conditions like anorexia, bulimia and binge eating according to the study further revealing that individuals impacted were at risk of cardiovascular disease, reduced bone density as well as other psychiatric conditions, such as depression and anxiety. Eating disorders may impact fertility as well. A seriously concerning factor was that, anorexia had the highest mortality rate of all mental disorders, and this can be a result of physical complications or suicide.
Ms Dane, also says “Through the lens of social media, someone else can always look better, skinnier, or prettier. Likewise, pro-eating disorder content is rife, and the ‘healthy’ #fitspiration trend may be fuelling new waves of disturbed eating and exercise pathology.”
“The outcome is a population of young people at risk of corroded body image, gaping discrepancies between their actual and ‘polished’ online selves, and an increased likelihood of engaging in compensatory disordered eating behaviours, as our review has shown.”
Estimations have indicated that 91 percent of UK and US adolescents utilize social media, where more than 50 percent access their accounts at least once every hour.
In the meantime, the application of filters and editing tools mean that young persons are flooded with unattainable perfection pictures.
Researchers have presently called for the problem to receive increased recognition, funding and research that can guarantee the education and early identification of persons who may have higher risks.
Researchers hope that this will simply address problems prior to its arrival at a healthcare setting.
