Social media is a common part of many people’s daily routine. Many smartphone users start their day by waking up, turning off their alarms, and checking their phones. In the process of doing this, it is often easy to drift into checking social media accounts. These social media sites are commonly flooded with content of edited pictures of supermodels and celebrities, misleading many users to believe these pictures are authentic. However, these pictures are not realistic. Many girls look at these pictures and wonder why their bodies do not resemble those of the models in magazines. Each person deals with self-confidence differently, however; some are more prone to body image problems than others. Often, young women develop low confidence levels which may lead to bigger problems such as eating disorders. Social media can be the spark to set off a powder keg of issues one may have with their body. There are many reasons that cause young women to experience eating disorders but social media is not a major contributing factor given that unfortunately eating disorders existed well before the advent of social media. 

       Not only has social media become a part of our everyday life, but it has also become a valuable tool for companies when it comes to advertising. According to Sydney McCarthy, a student at the University of Mississippi, “It would largely benefit businesses to focus on creating a presence on these sites” in order to widen their market (McCarthy). A presence, such as a company’s own Instagram account, on these sites can expose their companies to many more people in different parts of the world with minimal resources and effort. She then continues to discuss how social media specifically benefits these companies by saying that websites such as Pinterest and Instagram “allow significant opportunity for business growth and innovation” (McCarthy). Developing these outlets is crucial in order to create a large customer base and make one’s company successful.  It is also important to consider that social media’s main purpose is communicating with people. Subsequently, by companies utilizing social media they can approach their customers as friends rather than a client. A company can be more creative with their advertisements and also run them more frequently. Additionally, they are able to create specific looks with their products and help the customer to visualize how they would then wear the clothing item. These posts can lead girls to thinking they can wear these clothes and successfully pull off that look which may potentially increase their self-esteem. Then, this may lead to an increase in purchasing of a specific product. Ultimately, this may help them to increase sales internationally and widen their customer base.

       Although social media may be beneficial, there are also negative aspects of companies using social media that need to be considered. Companies do a very successful job of displaying their products, however, when discussing fashion companies and how they display their products, specifically who they use to display their products, issues arise. Many argue that the constant use of tall and thin models leads to body image issues because of the lack of body type diversity, thus making these displays unrealistic. People have all different body types that differ greatly from an average model’s body. These body types may include tall, short, wide, and petite which can lead someone to be self-conscious. A study conducted by the British Medical Association attempts to examine the role media has on triggering eating disorders and causing body dissatisfaction. They say that “the gap between the ideal body shape and reality is wider than ever” (British Medical Association). Models are becoming thinner and thinner while the average person is actually getting larger. People are no longer figureless and skinny, a large amount of the population is larger with curves. The British Medical Association continues this idea by saying, “there is a need for more realistic body shapes to be shown on television and in fashion magazines” (British Medical Association). Also, not only does their need to be a wider variety of body types but also a decrease in photo shopping. Photo shopped photos edit bodies to make them more ideal and can thus lead to girls having unlikely images of normal bodies. This is a very valid point, but first it needs to be established whether or not these models and underrepresentation of body types truly leads to eating disorders.

       Although many believe that social media causes eating disorders, it is difficult to confirm this assumption. Often times when teenagers discuss their reasoning for their body-consciousness or eating disorder they blame it on all the posts and ads of supermodels that flood social media. But is that the actual cause? A specific case is discussed in a TIME magazine article where a teenage girl claimed that her eating disorder started to develop by her constantly stalking models that she aspired to look like. Many argue that the exposure to all these “perfect” women is just a trigger for an underlying issue. In a video produced by Howcast the speaker argues that social media is not a leading contributor to eating disorders and in fact there is other more relevant causes. She says, “if people were able to develop eating disorders well before social media existed, then how can we say that it is the leading factor to causing them” (Howcast). To say that eating disorders are caused by social media is an unreasonable assumption. If people were able to develop eating disorders well before the internet was even invented who can really prove that social media has changed anything when it comes to them. Another valid argument the speaker brings up is the ratio of people that view these posts to the amount of people that actually develop a disease from one. She says, “A great deal of people are exposed to these ads and posts but yet only a small percentage develop an eating disorder from them” (Howcast). She makes a valid point with this argument, in that social media cannot be blamed for this issue when there are clearly so many other causes. Especially since people were able to develop them without viewing these posts. Although social media does not necessarily cause eating disorders, they make them easier to develop for people who are already self-conscious about their bodies. Overall, it cannot be proven that they directly cause any type of disease relating to body image.

       An additional point to consider is that the exposure to these posts and ads are just a trigger for an underlying issue that is the actual cause of the disease. There is very little evidence that directs us to believe that the exposure to these models can cause people to develop bad eating habits or a disease.  An article from Huffington Post states that “little hard data exists about whether or not the ubiquity of ultra-thin models causes people outside the industry to develop disordered eating or a full-blown eating disorder” (Pearson). It cannot be proven that there is a direct relationship between these two because there is a lack of substantial evidence to draw conclusions. It also has to be considered that there is a deeper cause, such as medical or psychological issues, for someone developing a disease based off of body image. The article goes further to discuss some other factors that can contribute to an eating disorder such as “being female, age, family history and influence, as well as additional mental health issues” (Pearson). This article emphasizes that these posts and ads may be an indirect cause but most likely there is a predisposition for an eating disorder. That social media and ads are just a trigger and nothing more. It is important to consider the effects that come with the industry’s choice on models and ads but ultimately, they cannot be blamed for the eating disorders that exist in young woman.

Another more recent piece of evidence which demonstrates that social media is not a leading cause of eating disorders is the recent increase of the use of plus size models. For the longest time models were traditionally tall and thin. However, the fashion industry has been widening their variety of body types they use recently. A New York Times article states that “Ashley Graham became the first plus size model to appear on the cover of American Vogue” and “Christian Siriano sent ten plus size models down the runway” (Salam). This confirms that companies are in fact starting to branch out from their “usual” modes and beginning to have more diversity in the body types they use to display their clothing. Although these are huge advances, one could wonder if this is even making a difference of helping girls with body image issues. Also, it can be questioned as to how frequently plus size models are used or is it a rare occasion. Well, it doesn’t just stop at the use of plus size models in the fashion industry. These models have used their new fame to start the huge movement of “body positivity”. Specifically, the plus-size model Tess Holliday has utilized her 1.3 million Instagram followers to spread inspiration about loving yourself and your body. One of her posts says that she “would have given up anything to have been 12 in Mississippi and seen someone like me” (Holliday).  This is encouraging young woman to embrace their body type instead of being ashamed of it. These body-positive posts on social media may in fact be helping people with accepting their bodies instead of hurting their body image because they are able to more clearly see people with body types just like them and not just the skinny models.

It is a very controversial debate about whether there is a relationship between social media usage and having a negative outlook on body image. While this may be an impact for social media, it cannot be considered a real threat to cause young woman to develop eating disorders. First, there is not enough evidence to prove that it is the leading cause. Also, there are many other factors to consider how someone may develop one. This is not saying it has no relation, just that it is not the main cause for the development of eating disorders. So, there is no need to worry about continuing your daily routine, of going through your Instagram feed, and not have the fear of developing an eating disorder in the process. 
