It’s no secret that social media can be bad for your mental health. Studies show heavy usage of apps can lead to increased risk of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and in extreme cases, self harm or suicidal thoughts.
Experts partly put this down to the way platforms can harbour negative emotions. For example, a person seeing images or videos of another person’s life, and feeling insecure about their own, or the way such content can stir up emotions like resentment or jealousy that others are having more fun or living better lives than they are.
And now charity bosses fear that certain popular food trends could be negatively influencing users’ eating habits.
If you scroll through your TikTok feed, chances are it won’t be long until you’re served up videos of people talking to you about their daily food intake or giving you tips on how to lose weight.
Many recipe videos also include calorie and nutrition values.
‘What I Eat In A Day’ aka #WIEIAD is one of the biggest TikTok trends which has racked up billions of views.
As suggested by the name, it sees content creators create video diaries of what they have eaten or had to drink that day. Some are standard day-to-day meals, whereas others can be focused on calorie deficit diets or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, a person eating nothing but junk food for the day.
Martha Williams is a senior clinical advice coordinator with eating disorder charity Beat. She described the trend as “really dangerous”, and says that those sharing the videos may not realise how damaging they can be.
“It can be worrying because we're so different with what we need in terms of calorie consumption and we all do different levels of activity.
“These videos can really fall into the wrong hands of someone who's vulnerable and think ‘if I eat the same as that person, I'm gonna look the way that they do.’
“I think that's what's really dangerous is you just don't know people's individual circumstances.
“To be sharing videos detailing exactly what you're eating can serve as inspiration for others to do the same.” Martha says.
Another common trend known as ‘WaterTok’. The hashtag is used by people who make ‘recipes’ using water and flavoured ‘skinny’ syrups, with some creators influencing followers to drink these instead of eating meals.
While many may think encouraging others to drink water is a positive thing, Martha says her concern is that people are using these flavoured waters as meal replacements.
“Drinking water is a good thing, but I think it depends on the intentions behind drinking the water.
“For a lot of people, it's becoming a way to suppress your appetite, or people are advocating for replacing meals with a glass of water.
“That's when it becomes dangerous, when it's being sold as a kind of a replacement for a meal or a way to suppress appetite,” she said.
Martha is aiming to raise awareness of the potential dangers of these trends, and encourage users to consider the possible implications of what they are posting.
She added: “A lot of people are probably sharing them with good intentions and probably don't realise that actually there's quite a dark side to it and they're harmful and they're damaging.”
According to Beat, approximately 1.25 million people in the UK have an eating disorder - a quarter of which are male. Martha encouraged anyone who may find themselves obsessing over the trend to speak to someone about it.
“My advice would definitely be to reach out to someone that you trust, either a family member or a friend and say that you're finding yourself watching loads of these videos", she said.
“Particularly if you're watching the WaterTok ones and you're thinking, ‘Oh, actually, I'm gonna start swapping my lunch for a glass of water.’
“Getting support as early as possible and speaking through it with someone can be really really helpful.”
A spokesperson for TikTok said: "Our Community Guidelines are clear that any content promoting, normalising, or glorifying disordered eating is not allowed on TikTok and will be removed. Many people struggling with eating disorders or on a recovery journey come to TikTok for support, and we aim to help them do so safely. We provide access to expert resources on our app, and we continue to invest in new ways to customise content preferences, remove violative content, and diversify the discovery experience."
The Beat helpline for England is 0808 801 0677 or help@beateatingdisorders.org.uk
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