APPS such as Instagram and TikTok have been accused of failing people suffering from eating disorders despite new ‘safe-guarding’ tools being introduced.
Both TikTok and Instagram have released mental health resources in recent months but experts don’t think this is anywhere near enough to tackle the problem.
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According to CNET, an eating disorder specialist and assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California, said: “People with eating disorders can get trapped in a vicious cycle of content related to disordered eating and weight loss.”
He told the outlet that sometimes hospital staff have to take social media access away from patients so they can recover.
The leaking of internal documents from Facebook revealed that the company had noted 33% of Instagram users and 11% of Facebook users think the apps make their body image issues worse.
Over 50% of Instagram users were said to report dissatisfaction with their bodies.
Meta, formerly Facebook, concluded in the documents: “Overall, there is substantial evidence to suggest that Instagram and Facebook use can increase body dissatisfaction.”
Experts think the “vicious cycle” of content is down to algorithms on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
If someone struggling with their weight was to seek out information about that on one of the platforms, they would then be shown content similar to this due to an algorithm picking up on their ‘interest’.
The more a certain topic is searched for, the more that type of content will be pushed your way.
This can result in feeds being full of harmful content.
Algorithms are designed to optimize and keep you on an app for longer by ‘learning’ your interests, even if they may be harmful to you.
Critics argue this can come at a price for people struggling with eating disorders or other mental health issues.
If you start seeing triggering content on Instagram or TikTok, there are ways to flag this to the app so the algorithm is taught to show you fewer posts like that.
On the TikTok app, you have to long-press a video and click “Not interested”.
On the Instagram app, you can unfollow accounts that are triggering or click the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of a post and click “Not interested”.
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