Pro-anorexia TikTok content may be harmful to young people’s body image, according to researchers.
According to a study published this month, TikTok content that promotes eating disorders can influence young women’s perception of their bodies. in less than 10 minutes.
Researchers from Charles Sturt University in Australia included 273 users of TikTok between 18 and 28 years old who did not suffer from eating disorders.
One group watched seven to eight minutes of “neutral” content, including nature scenes, cooking videos, animals and comedy clips. Meanwhile, another group was exposed to seven to eight minutes of explicit content about eating disorderslike young women restricting their eating, joking about disordered eating behaviors, starving themselves, and sharing weight loss tips.
The resultspublished in the journal PLOS ONErevealed that this short period of time was enough to impact viewers.
“We found that watching just seven or eight minutes of pro-anorexia TikTok content significantly increased body dissatisfaction and the internalization of social beauty standards”, Dr. Rachel Hogg says in a statementfull professor.
“We know that most TikTok users spend much more time on TikTok each day, so the change we saw in the experimental group from before to after the test may be the tip of the iceberg in terms of long-term negative impacts,” he added.
The researchers decided to focus on TikTok because of “its unique delivery of content based on algorithms“, according to the university.
The focus is on the TikTok algorithm
The main feature of TikTok’s algorithm is the “For You” page, where users see a continuous feed of videos tailored to their preferences. The algorithm analyzes the behavior of each user in the app, especially the videos they watch the longest, like, share, comment on, or rewatch.
By collecting and processing this data, the algorithm identify patterns and trends on the user’s preferences and is supposed to offer content that fits those interests.
He TikTok algorithm not only shows users content they are familiar with, but also introduces them to new topics and creators mixing well-known content with videos from accounts or topics that the user has not interacted with before to maintain their interest in the application.
“This means that someone who simply watches a video about, say, preparing a meal or a workout at the gym, You might see pro-anorexia content on your ‘For You’ page“Regardless of whether they intentionally search for this content, they are very likely to see it,” Hogg said in a statement.
Hogg noted that the control group also experienced some decrease in satisfaction with body imagebut suggested that it might be because repeated administration of the Body Image States Scale (BISS) over a short period of time led participants to pay more attention to their appearance than they normally would. .
According to the European Institute for Gender Equality, Girls’ mental health is worse than boys’. Almost 47% of girls experience mental health difficulties at least once a week, compared to 34% of boys.
Body dissatisfaction, including concerns about weight and physical appearance, could significantly contribute to these mental health problems among young women, according to the InGender Equality Index 2021.
An earlier report also showed a strong correlation between adolescent girls’ concern about their physical appearance and their use of social networks.
Social networks offer instantaneous and quantifiable information, along with idealized images that can intersect with the value that adolescents attribute to relationships between equals and the sociocultural processes of gender socialization relevant to this period of development, creating the “perfect storm” for young social media users, especially women“said Hogg, adding that a change was necessary to protect them from the harmful effects of the content.
Euronews contacted TikTok for comment on the study, but did not receive an immediate response.
