Eating disorders: Social media could do more to alert dangerous content
Campaigners say people - especially children - are still exposed to videos that could trigger
It's feared people battling eating disorders are still coming across harmful content online - that could make them worse.
Eating disorders affect at least 1.25 million people in the UK and don’t just affect the person with the condition, friends and family often become carers – feeling helpless and heartbroken, as they watch their loved one struggle.
New research shows:
• 1 in 4 cases occur in men
• Admissions for eating disorders have doubled over the past decade, rising from 2,287 in 2011/12 to 4,462 in 2022/23.
• Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness.
• The NHS spends £4 billion a year on treatment with the total economic cost, including lost productivity, is estimated at £6.8 to £8 billion annually.
21-year-old Asia from Stoke battled an eating disorder during her teenage years and after her mental health spiralled, she tried to end her life.
She said: "When I was really struggling with my eating disorder, my Instagram feed was filled with health eating and fitness influencers. I think for me, viewing it when I was in that place. That sort of fed into those thoughts that you need to look like this and you can't eat that it's not good for you.
"There needs to be something done with the algorithm that stops that being shown because it's wrong."
"Eating disorders are one of the biggest mental health challenges of our time and they can affect anyone at any time."
Some charities R:pple want special checks and alerts rolled out on content that could trigger people with eating disorders.
Launched in September 2021, R;pple is a digital crisis intervention tool designed to present a visual prompt when a person searches for harmful keywords or phrases relating to the topic of self-harm or suicide. These phrases include any words or terminology which have been identified as displaying potentially damaging online content.
Asia added: "If I'd have seen that content at that age, and I have seen stuff like that pop up on social media and I report it instantly, it's so damaging and so harmful. If I'd have seen it in that dark place, when I was really low it would have made me so much worse."
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