When I was 15 years old, I was diagnosed with anorexia. I fully recovered, unlike many of my peers, but it was an uphill battle. One thing I’m grateful for is that in the years I was most acutely suffering from the disease, I didn’t have access to Instagram, with its continuous drip-feed showing images of unattainable bodies that young people are exposed to today. But I did have Facebook. I vividly remember returning home from treatment and immediately reconnecting with treatment friends on Facebook. I’d spend every evening on our family’s desktop computer comparing myself to them: Had they lost weight? Were they back in treatment? It was immensely triggering to be connected with folks who I considered “sicker” than I. To reach true recovery, I learned to unfriend people who were triggering to me. I learned to spend more time actively interacting with recovery-oriented peers instead of scrolling through full body photos online. I learned to limit my time on Facebook, and spend time building relationships in real life. This month, the world woke up to what survivors like myself have known for years. Social media is contributing to a growing number of men and women struggling with a range of body-image challenges, from an unhealthy relationship with food and exercise to a full-blown eating disorder. There remains a need for more comprehensive research on the impact, but the anecdotes speak volumes. I know this because I hear them from the front lines every day. We know that teens spend an average of seven hours per day on their phones, and many spend the majority of that time on social media. A young woman I mentor recently showed me her Instagram feed: Half includes people she met in treatment who are actively struggling to get well, and the other half is filled with diet influencers suggested to her by the algorithm or school friends who’ve manipulated their photos using beautification editing tools. During the pandemic, she told me she was spending up to 10 hours a day on Instagram, which would send her into daily spirals of self-loathing and food restriction. It is nearly impossible to convince teens like this young woman to delete Instagram. But there are immediate actions that we can take to lessen harm and amplify the positive sides of social media. For one, I share my personal Instagram feed with teens that I work with as an example of how they can curate a recovery-oriented community. I suggest they follow body-positive influencers in a diverse range of shapes and sizes. I share my favorite eating-disorder recovery and mental health awareness accounts. I suggest watching “Live Feeds” with recovery inspirations and people doing cool things in the world that have nothing to do with food and body. The interactions I’ve had with teens might seem like a small, simple act, but they can have a huge ripple effect. Instagram and Facebook now bear the responsibility to replicate this work on a large scale. We can significantly reduce harm, and even increase mental wellness, community, and body satisfaction if we leverage social media in the right ways. It will take honesty, introspection, and collaboration with community leaders, but I do believe that we can make these platforms safer for teens. In the meantime, we need to ensure that quality treatment is accessible to everyone with an eating disorder, which we know is the second deadliest mental illness. 80% of the 30 million Americans who develop an eating disorder will never get treatment, and less than 5% will have access to treatment that works. We have a responsibility to lessen the harm of social media platforms like Instagram, and an even greater responsibility to ensure that when folks have been harmed, they have the resources they need to fully heal.
Kristina Saffran is the cofounder and CEO of Equip.
Login to add comment
Other posts in this group
Bad news for morning routines everywhere: The New York Times has put its Mini Crossword behind a paywall.
On Tuesday, instead of their usual puzzle, players were met with a paywall. The
China’s Alibaba has developed a new chip that is more versatile than its older chips and is meant to serve a broader range of
Mount Fuji hasn’t erupted since 1707. But for Volcanic Disaster Preparedness Day, Japanes
When an influencer gets married, it’s safe to assume much of the cost, from venue decor to personalized invitations, has been comped in exchange for content. Now brides with smaller, more modest f
Welcome, and thanks for reading this issue of Fast Company’s Plugged In.
On August 22, President Donald Trump announced via Truth Social that the U.S. federal government had acq
Some of the most ambitious cancer science is happening in a disease few outside of oncology can name, and it’s revealing a future where cancer is no longer a death sentence.
Multiple mye
Ever wonder what happens to the bags that never make it to baggage claim? Some of them are now turning up in influencers’ lost luggage hauls.
It’s every traveler’s nightmare: you land, b
