How Does Media Impact Eating Disorders? Ways to Keep your Child Safe

Considering that the average American sees about 3,000 ads per day from TV, magazines, and billboards,

How does the media impact eating disorders?

Simply put, the media causes teens to have low self-esteem and a bad body image by bombarding them with images of thin women.

Some people are naturally thin but the majority of teenage girls are at an average height of 5’4” and an average weight of 145 pounds.

The average model in advertisements is at an average height of 5’10” and an average weight of 110 pounds.

So how does the media impact eating disorders?

Looking at these numbers, it’s easy to see why many girls would start to feel inadequate and have low self-esteem. The models in magazines are considered the beauty ideal and for most teenage girls, it is an ideal that is out of reach.

Many teens develop eating disorders in order to get as thin as they models they see in magazines.

Avoiding the Risks of Advertising

The development of an eating disorder is a very serious psychological disorder that can be very difficult to treat.

So how does the media impact eating disorders psychologically?

Young girls strive to be as thin as the models on TV and in magazines by throwing up their food or starving themselves. They never feel like they can reach the goal of thinness and the eating disorder grows in severity with time.

How to Minimize the Media’s Impact on Your Daughter

If you want your daughter to have a healthy self-image, it’s important to try to limit the amount of advertising she sees each day.

Be careful of what magazines you let your daughter read and make sure the ones that she reads promote a healthy body image in the articles and pictures.

How does media impact eating disorders through television?

Many women on television are unhealthily skinny and over-sexualized.

Try to limit the time that your daughter watches TV so she is not constantly bombarded with commercials and TV shows that idolize overly thin women.

This can lead to her developing an eating disorder as well.

It’s also helpful to talk to your daughter and tell her how all of the photos on magazines are airbrushed and photoshopped.

The women are actually not as gorgeous and perfect as they appear in the magazines because of all the touching up that is done. You can also make your daughter aware of all of the health risks of being so thin.
Your next step?

Make sure to get involved in your child’s life to help her build a strong body image and self-esteem from a young age.

Adolescence is very formative for your daughter so if you send her the right messages about body image while she is young, she will grow up to be healthy and less prone to developing an eating disorder.

So how does media impact eating disorders?

Media has a huge impact and it needs to be dealt with very carefully because the combination of exposure to advertising and a lack of support can cause your child to develop an eating disorder.

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