Other apps, such as Instagram, have also come under scrutiny by the NEDA for promoting negative body image. Long deleted her version of #whatIeatinaday when she realized she was influencing other users to think about starving themselves, she said. “Most of these aren’t made with ill intention but can be so triggering,” Kennedy said. She said that for the first month and a half, she was targeted by videos “joking about how little people ate, how much they hated themselves, and methods they used to starve.” Such comments could be considered “fat talk,” which could lead to negative views about body image, according to a 2017 study by Jacqueline Mills and Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, researchers at the Deakin University School of Psychology in Victoria, Australia.Īverey Kennedy, an advocate for body positivity and eating disorder recovery, downloaded the app during quarantine. The comments sections of TikTok videos can also host troubling content, with users disparaging their own bodies. “The general sentiment is people have been surprised when they have been seeing content promoted that is really actively talking about diet and fitness in a way that’s very linked to weight loss and numbers that’s been harmful for those individuals,” Mysko said. TikTok also fosters communities with similar interests, which can cultivate a sense of belonging for users but also add the pressure of competition. The app is known to have an algorithm that tracks what users interact with to show them similar content. "So if they were already restricting their diet a lot I think that’s getting worse.”Īt the peak of Long’s eating disorder, she said she liked several posts promoting unhealthy eating habits and disordered behaviors.
“Because there’s so much existential anxiety out there with the uncertainty around the pandemic, I think, unfortunately, people are sort of doubling down on whatever path they were on," said Elizabeth Daniels, psychology professor at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. With students having to entertain themselves outside of school, TikTok’s new possibilities for creative expression are especially attractive. The problem is magnified by the pandemic, which has pulled people indoors. “‘Fitspo’ images are back, unhealthy eating habits are constantly documented, and it can make it really difficult to avoid relapse when you’re randomly shown content that glorifies eating disorders.”
TikTok “seems very reminiscent of pro-ana Tumblr circa 2013,” said body positive activist and TikTok user Melody Young, using an abbreviation for pro-anorexia. With TikTok's youthful demographic, community-driven platform and powerful recommendation algorithm, experts are worried that the app is particularly dangerous for people who are susceptible to an eating disorder relapse.
“It’s not worth it to keep seeing these posts if it’s worsening your mental health.”īut some users say what they see on the app has led them to develop body issues and eating disorders, a problem that has also been an issue on Instagram and Snapchat. “When I initially downloaded TikTok, I saw a lot of really, really negative body image videos,” said Brittani Lancaster, a TikTok body positive activist. And experts who study eating disorders say the social dynamics on the app mirror the problems found in recent years on other platforms. Seven women in their teens and 20s told NBC News that the content they viewed on TikTok had pushed them to fixate more on their diets and exercise regimens to a dangerous extent. She said that TikTok, along with other influences on social media like Instagram and Snapchat, had pushed her to restrict her food intake over the past year. The next month, Long was diagnosed with an eating disorder and sent to a treatment center. Long's video amassed 2 million views before she deleted it a week later.
BODY TIK TOK DANCE FREE
“Everyone has so much free time now and wants to get in shape, so creators are promoting very unhealthy habits,” she said.
0 kommentar(er)
