And this is putting it mildly: in fact, content from the popular social network often even leads to the development of eating disorders, especially in adolescents. Is there any way to resist this?
Using social media, designed to bring people together, often backfires and hurts the self-esteem of many of us.
Comparing themselves to fit, well-groomed and beautiful “instadivs”, some, especially teenagers with a mobile psyche and still unstable self-esteem, begin to hate their bodies. This sometimes leads to self-harm and other types of destructive behavior. In addition, many of us become truly addicted to ratings from others in terms of likes, comments, and views on the content we post.
As part of a recent study, experts examined 720 Instagram posts, 240 of which could be related to the topic of eating disorders in one way or another. It turned out that 87,6% of these posts promoted unapproved appetite suppressants, and 53% promoted extremely strict diets (such as limiting 200 calories per day) and other types of unhealthy eating behavior.
But the threat lies not only in such publications.
Experts believe that even posts that at first glance do not seem toxic at all can harm teens
This, for example, includes the publication of bloggers about what they eat during the day.
“Teenagers often blindly follow the influencers’ lead — without consulting nutritionists and doctors, and without listening to their body’s needs, of course,” explains psychologist Samantha DeCaro. “And, of course, children take retouched glossy shots of the “stars” at face value, believing that this is the ideal to strive for.”
How to protect yourself and your children
It seems that the main players of the market themselves understand how much damage their content can cause: in any case, Facebook has postponed the launch of Instagram Kids, a service aimed at teenagers, for the time being. And yet, the salvation of the drowning is the work of the drowning themselves: only we ourselves can and must protect ourselves and our children from the harmful influence of social networks.
For starters, Samantha DeCaro suggests finding out which bloggers your kids follow and starting to follow their posts as well. It’s also helpful to talk to teens about what they see on social media, what content they encounter, and what posts they find most impressive.
It is worth reminding both yourself and your children that virtual reality is not equal to real life.
“Although the content on social networks is becoming more diverse and there are, for example, more and more bloggers with body-positive views, and some glossy magazines refuse to publish retouched shots of models, including on the covers, the influence of the beauty industry is still very strong,” complains DeCaro.
In addition, according to the expert, parents should limit the use of gadgets: the child himself, voluntarily, is unlikely to put the smartphone aside and stop “sticking” in it, so adults will have to set the limits themselves. For example, turn off WiFi in the apartment or ban the use of a smartphone at night.
Teach children to separate virtual and live reality. There are too many falsehoods and filters on the Web, users are trying to show themselves in the best light, from the best side. So, it is completely pointless to equal them.