‘Devastating toll’: Aus researchers team up with teens to fight TikTok-fuelled eating disorders
Teens struggling with body image are deleting TikTok and worrying less about their appearance after joining a groundbreaking Australian program.
Teenagers struggling with their body image because of what they see on social media are benefiting from a “world first” program designed in Australia.
Girls and boys taking part are deleting apps – especially video-based TikTok – and worrying less about editing or filtering photos they post.
They are also less critical of their appearance and less concerned about how their content compares to what influencers or their peers are sharing.
The program was designed by Flinders University researchers to help teens and young adults who are overly worried about their body image or appearance, or who show symptoms of disordered eating.
Lead researcher and eating disorder clinician Simon Wilksch said research had linked social media use to a “greater likelihood” of eating disorder behaviours or thoughts in teen girls and boys.
Dr Wilksch said a trial of the Flinders University program showed – in “a world first” – reductions in the kinds of social media use associated with higher risk of developing disordered eating.
“As a psychologist working with people with an eating disorder, I see the devastating toll these illnesses take,” Dr Wilksch said.
“Social media platforms are image and video-based, constantly giving users the message that how they look is important and that efforts to change their appearance will lead to greater likability by others.
“Children are being exposed to this at the very stage of their development when peer relationships, and acceptance by others, is of highest importance to them, making these messages even more harmful.”
At the end of the this year Australia will introduce a ban on children under 16 using social media – announced following The Advertiser’s Let Them Be Kids campaign.
Most social media platforms currently require users to be 13 but there are few, if any, safeguards to verify age.
Dr Wilksch, who backed the campaign, is urging governments to fund more treatment options for eating disorder patients and new prevention efforts, like the Flinders University program known as Media Smart Targeted (MST).
A trial of MST involved more than 550 13 to 25-year-olds across Australia and New Zealand.
Dr Wilksch said the rate of 10 to 14-year-olds with an eating disorder had surged by 200 per cent in the past 12 years and “current treatment services cannot come close to that demand”.
MST is “self-guided”, meaning there is no need for supervision by a therapist.
Dr Wilksch said funding to make it accessible to “any young Australians who need it … would be an invaluable, cost-effective option to help reduce the number of people experiencing eating disorders”.
For support phone the Butterfly Foundation on 1800 334 673 or visit butterfly.org.au
More Coverage
Originally published as ‘Devastating toll’: Aus researchers team up with teens to fight TikTok-fuelled eating disorders
