How could people with anorexia feel safe online?

“When I was really underweight, there was no information on social media, besides that’s not what you want, it’s about showing people that anorexia is out there, but you don’t need to be part of this, this is mental illness, this is death really.”

One-liner: Teenage anorexia sufferers using social media regularly

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Background

Social networking emerged as a new channel for seeking information, and also for creating and exchanging user-generated content among peers. Online information can be misleading and potentially harmful for anorexia sufferers. Anorexia sufferers engage with online content promoting anorexia as a lifestyle. So-called pro-anorexia websites share tips and sufferers can share insights into new ways of losing weight. This information is misleading and harmful to one’s health. The desire to be thin (so-called thinspiration) leads adolescents to develop a low perception of their body image. Recent studies have shown that there is a correction between online content promoting anorexia and eating disorders and females; perception of their body image (Chou et al., 2011, Rouleau et al., 2011). Pro-anorexia content tends to be more popular among young people tend to be more concerned about their body weight. Most people affected by anorexia fall within the age group in which social media websites are used heavily (Arcelus et al., 2011). Based on the research by the Pew Research Center, in 2019 in the age group, 18-29 years, 88 per cent had at least one social media account, which also means avoiding user-generated content is almost impossible. It is essential to know are the backsides of using social media and how it can harm mental health at a level that it can lead to severe mental illnesses as anorexia. Social media is a vital tool for influencing people and placing value on the perfect body and appearance in several key ways, such as body justification, comparison and can be a source for triggers about weight loss, workout routines, dieting and images of unrealistic ideals of body sizes.

As I described previously, social media can be detrimental, but it can also be a place to encourage, learn and support. Based on my research on whether anorexia correlates with social media platforms, I concluded that social media is not the cause of anorexia but one of the primary triggers of developing negative views on self-image, which can lead to anorexia. Furthermore, once someone already suffers from anorexia, a social media platform can be the most toxic places with multiple triggers to worsen the disorder.

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Design vision

In my design vision, I wanted to create an intelligent personal assistant  which gives back the power for anorexia sufferers over their social media platform and online communities, and help them tailor and validate what they see and interact with. Social media and online communities are not the cause but a trigger of anorexia, without psychotherapy and sufficient medical care, it is not possible to recover. An intelligent personal assistant can help with two main aspects: acknowledging the fact of having anorexia and can help to evolve a healthy lifestyle during and after recovery. Based on my research there are 4 main aspects which has to be fulfilled to be able to recover: re-learning of eating, physical behaviour of learning to relax, warming up and maintaining their social life which is often disturbed.

I decided to concentrate on the aspect of recovery with the maintenance of online interactions.

 

Problems which are more likely be triggered by online content and social media platforms:

• Comparison to others: anorexia sufferers often recognise eating disorders in others, and also very competitive illness — picking up habits and rules from others

• Seeking numbness: they can’t deal with their negative thoughts and emotions, more likely to seek information from others

• Eating disorder making them withdraw from real life community: seek validation from pro-anorexic websites and social media sites (pro-anorexia and thinspriation sites)

 

The Social Circle Intelligent Assistant offers four main features:

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Sources:

Chou WY, Hunt Y, Folkers A, Augustson E. Cancer survivorship in the age of YouTube and social media: a narrative analysis. J Med Internet Res 2011;13(1):e7

 

Rouleau CR, von Ranson KM. Potential risks of pro-eating disorder websites. Clin Psychol Rev 2011 Jun;31(4):525-531.

 

Arcelus J, Mitchell AJ, Wales J, Nielsen S. Mortality rates in patients with anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders. A meta-analysis of 36 studies. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2011 Jul;68(7):724-731

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