It’s not news that social media has a strong and severe impact on our mental health, and has a powerful influence on the way we carry ourselves in our daily lives. Social media is known for its intrusive webs, crawling into every uncovered nook and cranny of our existence. What we see on our Explore Pages is what we become; you are who you surround yourself with. If you’re constantly bombarded with positive and encouraging content, you lead a much more productive and healthy lifestyle than someone who only views the alternative. And, unfortunately, we don’t have as much control over what we are exposed to as we think we do. 

Social media is like a drug: we always think we are in control, that we can stop whenever we want. But that is the furthest from the truth. Social media algorithms are scientifically designed to keep us interested, to hold our attention, commanding it. Regular use of the platforms has effects on our dopamine, impacting our reward processing and creating a “dependency analogous to substance addiction.” Whatever is trending is what we are interested in. We are conditioned to think that what is popular is what is right. That what we see is what we should follow, regardless of how harmful it is, or could end up. 

Like the newly resurfaced ‘EDTOK,’ or eating disorder TikTok. Born from the dark side of the internet, EDTOK is made up of mostly teenage girls praising themselves for their chillingly small sizes and their concerning restrictive diets. They share ‘tips and tricks’ in videos with cool and catchy music, giving viewers the impression that what they’re doing is okay. That it’s nothing to be worried about; it’s just a video. 

Looking Back

Eating disorders have a long history with the media. They’re like a shiny bomb: They are framed to be wonderful, the key to a youthful and perfect life. But they blow everything up. All the goodness you possess, gone. Poof. They’ve been wrongfully glamorized by movies and in magazines. Models and actors sell a life that is contingent on achieving the unachievable. 

The early 2000s saw a crushing tsunami of ‘pro-thin’ content, drowning viewers with the rhetoric that thin is good. Hospitalizations rose at least 18 percent between 1999 and 2006 for thin-related illness. We saw how damaging it was to women and the lasting impacts such a lifestyle had on the body. Celebrities, doctors, internet personalities, everyone mobilized together and spent years trying to undo the destruction that was done to millions of little girls and growing women. 

In the past ten years alone, eating disorders and related illnesses have more than doubled among the youth, with forty percent of instances occurring between the ages of 15 and 19. Of those impacted, ninety percent were on social media in at least one way. 

The way our algorithms work is that it sees what we are interested in, what we search up, what sort of content we spend the most time on- even if it’s just seconds- and what we like the most, and it pushes that to our page. Whether we realize it or not, what comes to our feed is extremely personalized; nothing is by coincidence. In a study conducted to see how TikTok contributes to eating disorder content, it was discovered that TikTok showed over one million eating disorder-related videos to over forty individuals with the disease.  

Dieting videos, extreme exercise, clips surrounding dangerous and toxic eating habits, videos promoting restricted eating, and appearance-based videos, they were all pushed towards individuals with eating disorders. It’s as if it were done on purpose. The algorithm knew that the viewer was more likely to engage with that sort of content, liking it, watching it longer, and saving it; it was all about the numbers for them. It doesn’t register that these are real people, with real feelings. 

According to the study, that content was 335 percent more likely to be promoted to those with eating disorders or disordered eating than to someone without. The For You Page really is for you. 

An Exacterbation Online

Eating disorders aren’t new, and they don’t need social media to help with their existence. But they thrive online. The majority of people consuming that sort of content are younger girls, girls who are still impressionable and easily influenced. When there is a popularity online of ‘pro-ana’ (pro-anorexia) behavior, a deadly disease slapped with a trendy name, they’re going to follow it. 

Platforms like TikTok and Instagram don’t care, despite what they might say, what content they’re promoting (to a degree). Eating disorder content is extremely harmful, but it garners views and engagement, something that social media lives on and needs to survive. EDTOK gives that to them. The more graphic something is, the more eyes it reaches. And EDTOK fits that bill. 

It’s important while consuming media online to be wary of what you give your attention to. It might not seem important, those few extra seconds you stay on a video, but the algorithm remembers everything. To ensure your safety, mentally and physically, swipe past content like that immediately. Or even go as far as to say you’re not interested. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate among mental disorders. They are silent, often not made obvious until it’s too late. 

Make sure to stay educated on the subject for your own well-being. Understand that what you may see online should not be replicated in real life. Beauty is not contingent on your size, and thinking that way can be detrimental. Disconnect from the online world, and stay grounded as much as you can in reality. Find joy and happiness in yourself and your hobbies, not solely your appearance. And if you do need, there are resources everywhere for you.

Have you seen EDTOK videos on your FYP? Let us know in the comments below.