Eating Disorders and Social Media: Building Yourself a Safe Space
For a long time, social media has been blamed for impacting eating disorder development and continuation. Comparing yourself to others and their highlight reels can hurt more than just body image. That being said, it’s essential to set yourself up for helpful content on these sites instead of scrolling through posts and accounts that are not helpful.
By: Elizabeth Foot
Social Media Can Be The Thief Of Comparison
Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, you name it, you’ve probably used it or have an account. And while the number of content creators and people to follow grows, the type of content being shared often remains the same. Social media is meant to be social, but when you’re only seeing updates from individuals after major trips, significant events, and life milestones, it can be easy to compare your own life – regardless of how much you share it on social media – to those you scroll through or swipe on or like or share or comment on. Especially with the rise of influencer culture, it’s almost impossible to go onto Instagram without being exposed to some sort of trend or endorsement of eating style or workout routine.
Who You Follow Is Important
That is why making active decisions about who you follow, who you block, and what your feed looks like is so important. While there will always be perpetuations of diet culture, restrictive eating, compulsive exercise, body checking, and more, there have recently been increases in those who are anti-diet, who are body neutral, who are celebrating and praising their bodies for all they can do. Following these accounts – and muting, unfollowing, or blocking anyone with a “What I Eat In A Day” reel – can alert algorithms that this is the content you want to see. By setting your feed up this way, you’ll likely get an even more positive body image and “all foods fit” accounts, which can continue to send messages that counter disordered eating habits and thoughts.
Connect With Community On Social Media
Outside of looking to prioritize accounts and individuals who promote body and food acceptance, there are lots of professionals operating in the space who have experience with eating disorder work and recovery. Eating disorder treatment can be incredibly tough to access, and while social media is never a replacement for therapy or medical advice, following therapists and registered dietitians who have been certified in treating eating disorders can help bring education and thought-challenging ideas to you for free. Finding accounts that resonate with you can also assist with in-the-moment relief. If you’re feeling a big emotion and don’t have a therapy appointment or someone to call, using some of these accounts might help in that moment of distress.
How To Curate a Recovery-Aligned Social Media Feed
To start curating your social media accounts, you’ll need to do some active searching and choose who you follow. Instead of passively scrolling through whatever the algorithm wants to give you, go in and look for body-positive or body-neutral creators. Search for key terms you and your support team (whether it be friends, family, mental health providers, registered dietitians, or doctors) come up with and see who pops up. Better yet? Ask your support team if they recommend any content creators on social media and start there. Add 1-2 accounts weekly while cleaning out those that no longer serve you. Your social media feed is yours, and being unapologetic about who you engage with is a great way to keep yourself supported throughout eating disorder recovery and rewiring habits.
At BALANCE eating disorder treatment center™, our compassionate, highly skilled team of clinicians is trained to diagnose and treat the spectrum of eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, compulsive overeating, and other disordered eating and body image issues. You can go to our YouTube page to watch our Fact Check Your Feed: Debunking Diet Misinformation Webinar to learn why trusting your favorite influencers’ diet advice may not be helping you, spot common nutrition myths with research-backed evidence, identify diet misinformation red flags, help your loved one or client think critically when using social media, and more.
Our admissions team would happily answer any questions about you or a loved one receiving eating disorder treatment. Book a free consultation call with our admissions team below, or read more about our philosophy here.
This post was written by BALANCE Blog Contributor, Elizabeth Foot (she/her).
Elizabeth is currently pursuing her Master's of Public Health in nutrition and dietetics from the University of Michigan, on track to become a registered dietician. Prior to returning to school, Elizabeth received her B.A. in Public Policy from Hamilton College in 2020.
Since graduating Hamilton, Elizabeth has worked for an infertility insurance company as a marketing associate, has volunteered with Multi-Service Eating Disorder Association (MEDA), and has advocated on Capitol Hill for expanding insurance coverage to registered dietitians as part of the Eating Disorders Coalition (EDC). Elizabeth is also a strong supporter of intuitive eating, HAES, and is excited to become a licensed practitioner working in the ED field. In her free time, Elizabeth can be found creating recipes, practicing yoga, or counting down the days until she can get a dog.