Photo: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / Contributor (Getty Images)
Social media has long been the bane and the muse of anyone suffering from an eating disorder. To exist online with a pulse in the year 2012 was to understand the cesspool of “thinspiration”-style content that proliferated on platforms like Tumblr, Xanga and Pinterest, and more recently, the rise of “influencer” culture has all but ensured that an endless stream of images of thin, toned and otherwise perfect-presenting women are ever-present in Instagram and Youtube feeds.
Advertisement
On Monday, a handful of social media platforms introduced new policies aimed at providing support to users who might be suffering from body image issues and disorders in honor of eating disorder awareness week (February 22-28) a positive sign that platforms are finally coming to terms with the idea that they can play a useful role in mitigating the spread of harmful images..