Every week I come to this blog to talk about the joys of sharing food on social media. It can show healthy food, delicious food, show your accomplishments and your personality, and links foodies all around the world. However, there are some ways that social media can affect people's eating that is less positive. Last week I talked about the capacity for these posts to make people obese. Now I am going to talk about the capability for social media to spark eating disorders and unhappiness with one's body.
Because of the excessive time we spend on social media everyday, we are exposed the the going ons in peoples lives at every step of the way. More and more, we begin to compare ourselves to the people on our newsfeed. We see people get engage, get jobs, go on extravagant resorts, and look absolutely amazing at huge events. Every time we see these posts, whether consciously or subconsciously, we compare ourselves to them and allow them to make us feel worse about ourselves. Hashtags such as "#thighgap" and "#thinstagram" make it all to easy for someone to get the "inspiration" they need to continue being anorexic. There are also pro eating disorder chatrooms online for people who need support to continue their disease, and other people help them.
I am not saying that social media is the cause of 30 million Americans who suffer from various eating disorders, but it is proven that it fuels them. On top of comparison to others, some scientists found that people can force themselves to feel full by just looking at food videos and photos. It is the opposite affect of my last blog post, but can still hold true for some people. With all of the food related posts, anorexic people can convince themselves they are full just from scrolling down their news feed.
I cannot count the number of times my friends will talk about how beautiful someone is on instragram or how perfect their life seems. The truth is, we do not really know them or how their life really is. Luckily there have been movements for self love and many articles written about not judging a profile by its cover. Although people still suffer from self hate and eating disorders, hopefully there will be a turn around to show self love and honesty on social media.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Foodie Post #7
I often find myself laying in bed at night looking at my social media and instantly getting hungry. It seems like my entire instagram is dedicated to food at times. However, no one posts just your run of the mill food, this is DELICIOUS and beautifully appetizing dishes and snacks that people are proud of. So, when I am laying there, I am tempted to eat a bed time snack.
This isn't just a night time thing. I am often inspired by and made hungry by these photos on my feed. This realization got me thinking that there's no way that I am the only person who feels this way. Then I started to think, what if social media is aiding in the rise of obesity in America. I decided to search it and found this interesting article: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/12/14/how-social-media-may-be-causing-to-gain-weight.html
In summary of the article, 63% of millennials' feeds are clogged with food on a day to day basis and 70% of household meals are inspired by digital media in some way. Different hashtags and location sharing make these pictures easier to find and pop up more often. It is proven that the brain goes through changes when it sees food photos that make the person very hungry or simply just want to eat.
However, the weight of the viewer had a direct correlation to the areas of the brain that were activated. Obese individuals brains were activated in reward or pleasure centers, while healthy weight individuals' brains were activated in cognitive centers.
This intrigued me. So while social media food posts might not alter people who are already at an healthy weight, it might be making overweight people gain weight more rapidly.
Honestly, I think it makes anyone inspired to try new things, however, the overabundance of pictures and emphasis on food can be unhealthy for America.
This isn't just a night time thing. I am often inspired by and made hungry by these photos on my feed. This realization got me thinking that there's no way that I am the only person who feels this way. Then I started to think, what if social media is aiding in the rise of obesity in America. I decided to search it and found this interesting article: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/12/14/how-social-media-may-be-causing-to-gain-weight.html
In summary of the article, 63% of millennials' feeds are clogged with food on a day to day basis and 70% of household meals are inspired by digital media in some way. Different hashtags and location sharing make these pictures easier to find and pop up more often. It is proven that the brain goes through changes when it sees food photos that make the person very hungry or simply just want to eat.
However, the weight of the viewer had a direct correlation to the areas of the brain that were activated. Obese individuals brains were activated in reward or pleasure centers, while healthy weight individuals' brains were activated in cognitive centers.
This intrigued me. So while social media food posts might not alter people who are already at an healthy weight, it might be making overweight people gain weight more rapidly.
Honestly, I think it makes anyone inspired to try new things, however, the overabundance of pictures and emphasis on food can be unhealthy for America.
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