Social media, for all its connecting power, casts a long shadow over the well-being of young people.
What begins as a platform for sharing and connection can quickly become a dangerous landscape, especially for vulnerable minds.
As of June 1, 2025, experts are issuing urgent warnings: social media platforms are acting as potent triggers for eating disorders, glorifying dangerous thinness, and spreading harmful, unverified advice about diet and nutrition.
This isn’t just about fleeting trends; it’s a critical public health issue. While eating disorders are complex, stemming from a mix of psychological, genetic, and environmental factors, social media is emerging as a powerful accelerator and a significant obstacle to recovery.
Let’s delve into the alarming ways platforms like TikTok and Instagram are impacting the youth mental health crisis.
Beyond the Scroll: How Social Media Becomes an Eating Disorder Trigger
The data paints a concerning picture: the global percentage of people experiencing some form of eating disorder rose from 3.5% in 2000 to 7.8% in 2018 – a period mirroring the meteoric rise of social media. While young women and girls are disproportionately affected, rates among men are also on the rise.
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For professionals battling these illnesses, the deluge of misinformation from influencers on platforms like TikTok and Instagram presents an immense challenge. As French dietitian and nutritionist Carole Copti warns, “We no longer treat an eating disorder without also addressing social media use.
It has become a trigger, definitely an accelerator and an obstacle to recovery.”
Nathalie Godart, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, aptly describes social media as “not the cause but the straw that may break the camel’s back.”
By relentlessly promoting unattainable thinness, strictly controlled diets, and grueling exercise regimens, social media intensifies the threat to already vulnerable individuals, amplifying harmful narratives.
The Vicious Cycle: Dangerous Trends & Normalized Harm
Social media’s algorithms can create echo chambers of dangerous content, normalizing behaviors that are profoundly damaging.
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- The Perilous #skinnytok Trend: A stark example is the #skinnytok trend on TikTok. This hashtag became a breeding ground for dangerous, guilt-inducing advice, openly encouraging drastic reductions in food intake. Such content, easily accessible to impressionable minds, presents unhealthy behaviors as aspirational or even acceptable.
- Glorifying Malnutrition and Harmful “Purges”: Charlyne Buigues, a French nurse specializing in eating disorders, condemns videos depicting young girls with anorexia exposing their malnourished bodies or individuals with bulimia demonstrating “purges.” These videos present dangerous practices like taking laxatives or self-induced vomiting as legitimate weight-loss methods, completely ignoring the severe health risks, including cardiac arrest and potential suicidal behavior. Anorexia, notably, has the highest death rate of any psychiatric disease.
- The Lure of Likes & Financial Incentives: Social media creates a dangerous feedback loop. “People suffering from eating disorders often have low self-esteem,” explains Copti. “But by exposing their thinness from having anorexia on social media, they gain followers, views, likes… and this will perpetuate their problems and prolong their denial.” In extreme cases, this validation can even translate into financial gain, as observed by Buigues with a young woman earning money from live streaming herself throwing up – a chilling example of content monetization fueling a life-threatening illness.
The Road to Recovery: Social Media as an Obstacle
Beyond triggering the onset, social media significantly complicates and prolongs the recovery journey for those battling eating disorders.
- Misinformation vs. Expert Advice: Young people, often spending hours daily online, tend to believe misleading or fake diet advice from “pseudo-coaches” more readily than trained medical professionals. Copti describes consultations feeling like a trial, where she must constantly justify fundamental nutritional truths against “absurd” online claims. “The patients are completely indoctrinated — and my 45-minute weekly consultation is no match for spending hours every day on TikTok,” she laments.
- The Power Imbalance: Psychiatrist Nathalie Godart highlights that these unregulated influencers often “carry far more weight than institutions,” making it an uphill battle for healthcare providers to convey simple, healthy messages about nutrition and self-care.
- Reporting Challenges: Despite dedicated efforts, reporting problematic content on platforms like Instagram often proves futile. Buigues notes that content rarely gets removed, and accounts are seldom suspended, leading to immense frustration for those trying to protect vulnerable users.
Protecting Our Youth: A Critical Call to Action
The pervasive reach of social media eating disorders demands a multifaceted response.
- Heightened Awareness: Parents, educators, and young people themselves must be acutely aware of the specific dangers lurking in seemingly innocuous trends.
- Digital Literacy & Critical Thinking: Equip young users with the skills to critically evaluate online content, understand algorithmic biases, and discern genuine health advice from harmful misinformation.
- Open Dialogue: Foster environments where young people feel safe to discuss their anxieties about body image and online pressures.
- Seeking Professional Help: For those struggling or concerned about someone, immediate professional help from psychiatrists, dietitians, and therapists specializing in eating disorders is paramount. Lifelines and support organizations are available.
- Considering Digital Detox: As a radical but sometimes necessary step, some professionals like Nurse Buigues advise patients to delete social media accounts, particularly TikTok, citing the app’s danger to uninformed young people.
