Article by Isabella Del Alcazar

The Burden of Technology How technology has affected eating disorders through quarantine

By: Isabella Del Alcazar

I didn’t really realize I had an eating disorder until very deep into and it was hard to break out of it. ~Amar Srivastiva

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“I got very interested in nutrition when I got into my college years. There were a lot of eating disorders going on in college , and I wanted to sort of support that(classmates), and that’s how my studies kinda went into nutrition science ”

Melanie Tate at a new stable living site

Over the last year, everyone in some way shape or form has faced a struggle or a loss. Whether it was loss of a friendship, loved one, health, job, or more. Everyone felt a heaviness with the closing of shops, schools, businesses. With the closing of normal life there was one light that we all turned to.

The glowing luminous light of our screens. Technology and social media were our new found everything. But with it, many people faced a struggle, eating habits and eating disorders. Over the last year there has been an observable change with body image issues, and the center of this change has been technology and social media.

As a nutritionist of over 20 years, Melanie Tate has worked with and faced many different aspects of body image and eating habit struggles. “You need to eat for a lifetime, you can’t just eat periodically….it’s a skill you need for a lifetime, and you need to make continuous good choices when eating”. Over the last t wenty-plus years of work in this practice, some common patterns Ms. Tate has noticed in youths struggling with eating disorders is pressure from their surroundings (parents, teachers, friends), stress, and social media. And over quarantine especially. These issues have become more apparent, and eating disorders in youths have risen over the last year in covid lockdown.

In the last 10 or so years, there has been a rise in teen mental health struggles due to the recent increase of access to technology. One source states, “A sudden increase in the rates of depression, anxiety and self-harm was seen in adolescents — particularly girls — in the United States and the United Kingdom around 2012 or 2013 (see go.nature.com/2up38hw). Only one suspect was in the right place at the right time to account for this sudden change: social media”. The issue with social media and technology is the vast amount of information and people they have access to. Often these media influencers consist of rock hard abs, slim wastes, and what society considers “perfect” bodies. And due to quarantine over the last year, many teens only had social media as their source of entertainment while stuck inside. As written by Ms. Lamb, a blog writer for The Depauw, “If someone is already feeling lonely or depressed by the naturally isolating circumstances of quarantine, it is no wonder why they would look to social media for comfort.

However, while social media may provide a forum for communication, that communication is an insufficient replacement for face-to-face contact, often leaving people feeling more isolated than they were to begin with”. When being isolated from the real world, and only having what is on a screen, it often leads to an increase of mental health issues. And a common form of self harm, is restricted or increased eating habits.

Often through quarantine social media influencers were pushing diets and cleanses along with workout trends promising to get the viewers the body they always wanted. For a lot of people however, they ended up feeling more insecure and struggling with their mental health. As mentioned by Amanda Gamble, a junior at Los Altos High School,

“...the Chloe Ting and Alexis Ren challenges that were telling us to get fit, get your bikini body because this summer is going to be totally normal...it felt like everyone was competing with each other- and we weren’t going out as much, we weren’t as active, so it caused people to skip meals”.

As technology becomes more and more a part of our lives it is necessary that we use media to push positive messages and assist people with their mental health struggles. With the right methods enforced, social media and technology could help assist people with their eating disorders and body image issues, currently however it is just creating a false image of what people’s bodies should look like,

“No one posts about their bad days, they’re just posting their just posting their good days a lot of times so you just see a facade of all this body image. And this skinniness, the fitness, and so you don’t see a lot of normalcy.. ” ~Melanie Tate

Over the last decade, let alone the last year, eating disorders especially in youths have grown due to the isolation of being inside all year, and the isolation and portrayal of society’s expectations through media.

Eating disorders can cause many issues within one’s body and mental health. Oftentimes eating disorders can be a form of self harm due to other mental health issues, insecurities with one’s identity or self image. Or to try to have a sense of control when one can’t control other aspects of their life.

Amanda Gamble rowing for NorCal

There are different types of eating disorders. Some include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating, and more. As said by Gunn junior Amar Srivastiva “ I didn’t really realize I had an eating disorder until very deep into it and it was hard to break out of it. I guess that’s kind of the narrative of a lot of people, they don’t have a problem, until it’s a major problem in your life”.

Factors that can trigger eating disorders such as stress, pressure, and struggles with mental health have increased drastically due to being stuck inside away from the majority of loved ones and the outside world. ScienceDaily writes, “Certainly during the initial spring lockdown period, our screen time increased, meaning that we were more likely to be exposed to thin or athletic ideals through the media, while decreased physical activity may have heightened negative thoughts about weight or shape” . With increased isolation, eating disorders are more apparent.

And with that, it will become harder and harder to help manage the disorders and get the help that is needed to help. Factors that can trigger eating disorders such as stress, pressure, and struggles with mental health have increased drastically due to being stuck inside away from the majority of loved ones and the outside world. With increased isolation, eating disorders are more apparent. And with that, it will become harder and harder to help manage the disorders and get the help that is needed to help. Often it takes different types of therapy to help manage symptoms as well as sometimes hospitalization, medication or assistance from insecure.

Often it takes different types of therapy to help manage symptoms as well as sometimes hospitalization, medication or assistance from nutritionists. It is important as a society, especially now, trying to create the world again after a pandemic that we address these current issues and work to make the internet a safer, more positive place.

So it can be a place and allow people to appreciate their bodies instead of feeling insecure Amar playing with his band, “The Purple Hearts Club over quarantine

With the struggles of eating habits and eating disorders there are many ways to help and cope with it. As mentioned earlier, there are many ways to have psychological and medical help while facing eating disorders such as therapy and medication. There are also hotlines and eating disorder sites, such as the National Eating Disorder Association, to help talk to trained professionals and read their advice and guidance on how to help loved ones fighting against eating disorders.

“You need to know how to eat for a lifetime. Because there are different ways of losing weight, absolutely. But, there’s definitely a lot of ways to lose weight and be extreme, and be unhealthy. And it’s important to be healthy, at whatever body weight” ~Melanie Tate When it comes to pressure from outside factors such as stress with school or friends it is important to talk to family or adults to try to help manage the amount of pressure a loved one is feeling. Often if these issues are not addressed, not only would it create further stress but also possibly cause more likelihood of triggering issues with one’s mental health including eating habits. With technology, we can help others who need it. To do this however, the media needs to be used to create a positive safe space, that means acknowledging body positivity rather than the weight someone is on the scale, or what size clothes they wear.

Media and technology is an ever growing part of our lives, we may as well make it change so that society can grow to be better than it is now. Each person is absolutely beautiful for their differences in size, height, identity, race and so much more. It is important to realize that, and make the changes we want to see happen. “Honestly, just learn to love yourself, and learn that you only have one life to be yourself. Your ED may hold you back sometimes, but you’ve just gotta learn to learn that self love and self strength so you can learn your body again… You are so much more than what your mind is putting you through, you’re so much more than what your mind makes you think you are”.

About the Author Hi there! My name is Isabella Del Alcazar. Currently I am a junior, soon to be senior who is taking classes at both Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. When it comes to outside of school, I am an athlete. I do two sports as of this moment: varsity water polo and swim. Outside of sports I spend my free time listening to music, writing poetry, reading comic books, and drawing whenever I can.

Currently at Freestyle I am taking Film as my elective, so for this profile I decided to try to use all three of my interviewees as well as multiple sources of information. I wanted to write about body image issues because when I was growing up I faced issues with feeling insecure about how I looked to everyone as well as restricting my eating habits to try to get skinny quick, I wanted to learn more and research this topic so I could try to help other people who are struggling with these same issues or worse because I dont want anyone else to feel alone or isolated with these issues like I did. And I want to everything I can to educate the world that each individual person is absolutely beautiful.