This story speaks mass volumes about the effect that social media has on our society as a whole. It is clear to see how such things can pose a danger online. Many impressionable teenagers and young adults use social media on a daily basis, and so seeing such things is enough for them to want to do the same. Anyone really unhappy with their figure and who sees someone on instagram with a ‘perfect’ figure is of course going to want to copy whatever they have done and documented so frequently on how they achieved it to gain the same results themselves.

With more and more of us caught up in this never ending cycle that is the social media circus, everyone is in constant competition with one another, over who can post the best holiday photos, the most glamorous selfies, and achieve the best bikini beach body. Many young, insecure people is bound to become swept away by this frenzy of sensationalism, many who, undoubtedly, like Daniella, rely on the amount of comments and likes that their posts receive to boost their self-esteem. This is surely an unhealthy frame of mind for anybody to be in.

Balancing the argument, whilst many spikes in eating disorders have been reported in the last few years, there are other sources which stress that they do not originate from social media use alone.

I personally believe that in order to be so heavily influenced by social media you must be feel a sense of under achievement, or failure in your own life, which more than likely isn’t the case. Upon reading the article, Daniella herself mentioned that when she left drama school aged 21, she thought that “as soon as I left I’d become a successful actress and earn lots of money.”







These thoughts apply to many. Lots of youngsters graduate from university expecting to fall straight away into their dream job. However, with things factors like the aftermath of the recession and too much stiff competition from other graduates, this is seldom the case.

So it is no wonder young people are feeling disillusioned with, maybe even let down by life, so resort to these drastic measures to feel that they are actually achieving something. Many do so by eating clean and losing weight in the process. In addition to this, they may be trying to compensate for not having achieved other personal goals, or even a traumatic event such as the death of a loved one, feeling depressed or as a result of bullying. These people may simply live chaotic, unsettled lives, and so but they can take comfort in the knowledge that what they eat and how much they exercise is their one constant source of reliance. Something they can succeed in doing well.

There are some cases of Instagram stars turning their backs on obsessive clean living and choosing instead to document the ‘truth’ of their picture-perfect selves.

Essena O’Neill, an Instagram star who in 2015 had over 600,000 followers, chose to re-write captions for old photos documenting the truth behind them – explaining how she was feeling the day they were taken, and how she manipulated the images to look better. This has earned her praise and even further popularity, which could indicate that some parts of the social media movement are headed in the right direction.

Aside, from social networks, more traditional forms of media also have their share of the blame. Magazines are forever putting pictures of celebrities in bikinis front and centre. Some flattering shots are often used as part of a “how I slimmed down from a size 16 to an 8” feature, or some not so flattering shots purposely use bad angles to allege that they have gained weight. More often than not, said women are far from being overweight, so what sort of an example is this setting to young women who are of a similar shape or bigger and who are already feeling insecure about their weight? With this in mind, those sort of articles are also going to contribute to eating disorders and low self esteem.

Overall, what is clear is that whilst social media certainly is a contributing factor towards creating eating disorders in some people, and that said eating disorders are, infact, on the rise, a vital component to be taken into consideration is the state of mind of an individual in the first place.

A person who is feeling unfilled and dissatisfied with their own life is more likely to be looking to achieve a sense of fulfilment elsewhere. In order to be in control of their lives they may find that they are more vulnerable to falling prey to these social media “celebrities,” and can try to take hold of their lives with the one thing that they can control: food and exercise. For people who are genuinely feeling this way, we can all hope and pray that they seek the correct help, even just talking things through with a close family member or a friend and for others to reach out to people who appear to be feeling inadequate or down.