Obesity and Social Media Relations

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Forms of Media
Binge Eating and Leptin Hormone
Media and the Science of Obesity
Aggressive Marketing
Cyberbullying and Low Self-Esteem
References

Introduction

Overweight is a problem that has recently become familiar to a large amount of people, especially in the United States. Children, teenagers, and adults face weight issues and eating disorders. They tend to suffer from obesity and diabetes, low self-esteem and episodes of depression. The studies that were recently conducted show that “32% of youth aged 2 to 19 years are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight” (Koehly and Loscalzo 99). We believe that technological development influences such data. With the appearance of the internet, social media turned out to become an integral part of people’s life. This paper will seek to explain how the social media affects their weight. We think that the individuals who come under the influence of advertisements and suffer from cyberbullying are at risk of obesity. On this basis, we develop a thesis statement, which claims that excessive use of social media contributes to obesity.

Forms of Media

Technological development has influenced people’s life greatly. By dint of it not that long ago appeared new forms of communication. Today we all are familiar with Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. These are computer-mediated tools that help people to communicate and share information, pictures, and videos.

Facebook occurs to be the first widely-spread representative of social media. Originally it was created by and for the students of Harvard College. Today the service is commonly used to get in touch with friends and strangers to have a conversation. People update their statuses to inform others about the things they are doing, feeling or thinking about. They post interesting videos and funny pictures, let others see their photos and comment them. Various communities have their pages on Facebook, which allows people join them with no effort.
Twitter was created soon after Facebook and became commonly used by people of different ages and social status. It also altered the way social media looks. From the very beginning, it was used to share the information about the things people are doing at the moment using no more than 140 characters. However, soon it turned out to become something more. Twitter is considered to be the best social media for sharing the news. It takes only a few seconds to write and post. One can use hashtags while sending messages so that they can be easily found.
LinkedIn is another representative of social media. It differs from the previous ones as was meant for specialists. One can create a professional profile and get in touch with co-workers and classmates. LinkedIn allows people find experts who work in various spheres and connect with them. It is also possible to receive the description of some company and the things it manages. Thus, this social network increases career opportunities and broadens their range. It is of advantage for those who search for work or want to discuss particular topics with professionals in the sphere.
YouTube is an extremely popular website that provides access to an enormous number of various videos. People have an opportunity to upload their own videos or share those presented by others. These videos can have different themes and purposes. Some are good for leisure time; they are films, TV-series or videos made by amateurs who just wanted to show their pets, etc. Others are useful in a job or educational perspective.
Instagram allows the users to share pictures and videos they made even using other sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The photos can be uploaded with a hashtag, which increases the opportunity for it to be seen and evaluated by others. One can also apply some filters to bring more attention. It is possible to follow people and observe all the changes they make and all the news they share.

These social media are widely spread, and people from different countries know about them and use them in everyday life. They also start to be utilized for the educational process. These websites provide an opportunity to caution the users about the danger of obesity and prevent it in this way. For example, Obesity Action Coalition can be found on the mentioned websites (Wielinski 2). However, yet they are mostly known to worsen this issue, which will be discussed further.

Binge Eating and Leptin Hormone

Binge eating is a disorder that can be described as the uncontrollable eating of large amounts of food. It is connected with the presence of leptin hormone that is produced to signal that the stomach is full, and it is time to stop eating. In such way, this hormone regulates the weight of a person.

As leptin deals with the consumption of food, its association with eating disorders is undeniable. People who suffer from binge eating disorder are said to experience hunger due to the reduced leptin. They are also likely to start comfort eating. It is claimed that females who have no weight issues, but eat a large amount of food on one occasion, experienced a binge episode, which influenced leptin. D’amore and colleagues hypothesize that “the relationship between severe binge eating and leptin concentration is mediated by lower dietary restraint and greater fat intake, suggesting that leptin may be a sensitive marker of metabolic changes occurring during binge eating episodes” (Miller et al. 398).

Eating disorders become familiar to children and youth even though they occur rarely. They also report feelings of anxiety and depression. Many have reduced self-esteem. Studies show that on this basis kids and youth may face problems with weight in future. Even if the weight is controlled as well as binge eating, the level of hormone does not normalize. This process takes half a year or even more.

The level of leptin changes during the day and its peak occurs to be at midnight. It was proved by scientists that the lack of leptin makes an individual feel hungry all the time (Miller et al. 401). Trying to cope with this condition, one tends to eat more, which soon appears to erupt into binge eating. If a person has too much leptin, one also is likely to come to obesity. Very often it means that this individual suffers from resistance to the signals the hormone is sending. Thus, leptin is proved to be connected with binge eating and causes of overweight and obesity.

Media and the Science of Obesity

Not that long ago obesity started to be treated as an epidemic, which is likely to lead to the public health crisis. Many scholars who have explored media portrayals of scientific research point out that much of what we know about the science of obesity is filtered through the media. Some of them claimed that weight is not really important for public health, as the mortality rate in this group of people is the lowest. Still, we will pay attention to the way media and scientists inform the general public on the themes related to obesity.

A great role in the selection of attitude towards weight issues context plays. If obesity is said to be desirable, media suggests being tolerant and understanding. If it is connected with wrong decisions made by an individual (for instance, eating unhealthy food), obesity is claimed to be immoral, common for lazy people or even evildoers (Saguy and Almeling 57). General public tend to imitate these attitudes. Thus, even if a person started emotional eating because of problems that took place in one’s life, others are more likely to condemn this individual rather than support and try to help. Very often overweight is described by media as a disease with no authoritative confirmation. Such treatment makes others believe that people do not control their weight, and they should not be blamed. However, then all fat individuals are considered to be ill because of this approach. Car and food industries are also often blamed by the media for being initiators of overweight. Still, only a few decent data is provided to support the idea, and mostly the assumptions are highlighted.

People are not able to evaluate these causes of obesity properly, as they know nothing about the situation and other possible reasons of why a person gained weight. Thus, they tend to choose one variant and lump everyone together. It proves that eventually general public occurs to treat those who suffer from obesity in the way media taught them, even though it is rather subjunctive.

Moreover, it is proved that media uses authoritative scientific data in the reports, but they filter the information to find the most striking one and frame it with stories full of drama (Boero 374). Thus, a problem of obesity among children, which can be treated and was highlighted by scientists to underline what should be done to improve the situation, occurs to be a crises or an epidemic with high mortality rate, which causes panic and misleads people. Blurring weight categories can be frequently observed in media, as very often extreme cases are described as if they are common ones.

Consequently, media tends to claim that obesity is a severe public issue, even though the blame for overweight is on the individuals. Mostly women occur to be in the limelight. Scientific reports are commonly used but almost never criticized. Saguy and Almeling consider that it is hard for media to promote the issue while treating obesity positively or at least neutrally that is why such dramatizing takes place (78).

Even though there is a drama in the news reports on obesity and overweight, it is based on scientific claims while the information that media gives is usually uncritical. Still, sometimes media expose wrong perceptions and poorly conducted researches by managing their own investigation. Science and reports can serve as authoritative sources of information about obesity and things connected to it while media overdramatizes the situation and often underlines the individuals’ fault for being overweight.

Aggressive Marketing

Aggressive marketing presupposes forceful promotion of products. Various companies are involved in it; however, those that promote junk food stand out against others. Their tactics lie in the fact that they advertise their products as healthy ones, which is considered to be unethical. In some cases, they even claim to improve the quality of the products with the help of health organizations, even though they did not. While adults evaluate the information they receive and understand the true danger that junk food provides, children occur to be vulnerable. They face obesity and become diabetics even before the moment they are able to realize how junk food influences them.

According to the research, about 1/3 of all children and teenagers have at least one meal of junk food every day in the United States (Wartman par. 3). For many representatives of general public such situation occurs to be normal and expected. Due to the advertisements many children believe that eating in McDonald’s is good and rather healthy. This fast food restaurant offers a range of things that attract the attention of little buyers (toys, balloons, etc.), so they believe that they should always eat there.

The statistics provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claim that 60 percent of adults and 15 percent of kids in America have weight issues, and primary we are to blame junk food companies with aggressive marketing. Their colorful and attractive advertisements can be seen outdoors, in stores, on the internet and TV. It was found that “the average preschooler saw 2.8 TV ads per day for fast food, children saw 3.5, and teens saw 4.7” (Wartman par. 4). Being attracted to the McDonald’s, almost half of all American kids ask to go there at least once a week, and the majority of parents agree. These data is shocking; it proves that the strategy chosen by the junk food companies actually works. Still, they gain money while their costumers gain weight.

Aggressive marketing targets also at minority youth. African Americans eat half as much junk food as European Americans. Various advertisements influence their choice more than that of their white peers, which is proved by the fact that their rate of obesity is 51 percent higher. Hispanic kids usually see more commercial. That is why they are likely to suffer from obesity and diabetes, and their rate is more than 20 percent higher (Wartman par. 9).

Unfortunately, the general public is not able to alter the aggressive strategy of junk food companies and reduce the number of their advertisements. Even though many people would like to forbid such organizations to promote their products and prevent children and representatives of minorities from seeing the advertisements, the companies have a legal right to continue doing what they want. And even though they provide new dishes that seem to be healthier, in reality they are just less dangerous.

Cyberbullying and Low Self-Esteem

Nowadays many people report being bullied at schools, universities and even at work. They become victims of those who dislike them and show their supremacy. Cyberbullying is a form of bullying that involves technologies to threaten or humiliate people online. Even though the victims do not suffer from any physical abuse, the adverse influence on their minds is undeniable. Cyberbullying is hard to escape. People got used being in touch whenever and wherever they are, so the undesired messages follow them in tracks. Social media are often used for bullying as they provide an opportunity to send messages, images and videos in no time and without any effort. A bully can create a fake account so that it will be extremely hard to trace him/her. The reactions of victims are different. They include negative emotions such as anger, fear, sadness or embarrassment. Thus, one becomes inattentive, gains worse marks and start playing truant. Such things put individuals in stressful situations, decrease their self-esteem and cause depression. The occurred situation has an impact on people’s weight in many cases. Some lose appetite and are likely to become anorexic, others tend to comfort eat and face obesity. The research conducted by Sleglova and Cerna includes a case with the female who gained undesired 10 kilos while dealing with cyberbullying (7). She also expressed aggressive behavior communicating with other people and lower self-confidence. This person received negative comments mainly on Facebook from the people who followed her. They knew each other in real life, which proves that cyberbullying targeted at a particular person usually appears to substitute a traditional one. LinkedIn and Instagram have less cyberbullying reports; however, private messages and comments are used for such purposes. Sometimes even images with humiliating context are sent.

According to the behavioral science research, today obesity faces stigmatization, and social media are spreading abusive stereotyping. Posts that can be found on Facebook and Twitter humiliate people who are overweight very often (Chou, Prestin and Kunath 314; Harris 62). These individuals are likely to have health problems because of such attitudes. For example, the risk of having mental health disorders increases; one can suffer from depression, feel lonely or anxious, or be dissatisfied with appearance, which leads to low self-esteem (Libbey et al. 25). Disordered eating and low physical activity can be caused by teasing. Cyberbullying is also observed on YouTube. There are lots of videos that deride overweight individuals. Comments to them often have the same message and even tend to be insulting. As users have an opportunity to upload their own videos, they often tease people they know and suggest losing weight in a rude form. Even people who refer to social media to share their experience related to the weight issues face bullying.

Cyberbullying makes individuals experience menaces and indignity wherever they are. They suffer from stress, lose self-esteem and become depressed. Thus, most victims start emotional eating while seeking for comfort and end up gaining undesired weight. It would be better for them to reduce the time they spend using social media, as then these individuals will face cyberbullying less often. Otherwise, it seems to be their decision to face bullying.

For a long time, overweight was considered to be a health issue but only some time ago it turned out to be a severe problem familiar to many people of different ages. The main reason they gain undesired weight occurs to be junk food. The companies that promote such nourishment use aggressive marketing to make people buy their products. The most horrible thing is that they are targeted at children. Frequent eating of large amounts of food causes problems with the level of leptin, triggers binge eating and increases the risk of obesity. Excessive use of social media can underlie this process, as it makes people deal with cyberbullying in some cases. Feeling depressed and having low self-esteem they tend to start comfort eating, which influences the level of leptin. As in the United States more people are overweight than ever before, the battle against obesity becomes more and more important. Social media has played a great role in causing the issue, but it can be also used to cope with it. Obesity Action Coalition allows people to connect them on social media and get involved.

References

Boero, Natalie. Obesity in the Media. Critical Public Health 23.3 (2013): 371-380. Print.

Chou, Sylvia, Abby Prestin, and Stephen Kunath. “Obesity in social media.” Translational Behavioral Medicine 4.3 (2014): 314-323. Print.

Harris, Janine, Sarah Moreland-Russell, Rachel Tabak, Lindsay Ruhr and Ryan Maler. “Communication About Childhood Obesity on Twitter.” American Journal of Public Health 104.7 (2014): 62-69. Print.

Koehly, Laura, and Aunchalee Loscalzo. “Adolescent Obesity and Social Networks.” Preventing Chronic Disease 6.3 (2009): 99-112. Print.

Libbey Heather, Marty Story, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer and Kerri Boutelle. “Teasing, Disordered Eating Behaviors, and Psychological Morbidities among Overweight Adolescents.” Obesity 16.2(2008): 24-29.

Miller, Rachel, Marian Tanofsky-Kraff, Lauren Shomaker, Sara Field, Louise Hannallah, Samantha Reina, Mira Mooreville, Nicole Sedaka, Sheila Brady, Tania Condarco, James Reynolds, Susan Yanovski and Jack Yanovski. “Serum Leptin and Loss of Control Eating in Children and Adolescents.” International Journal of Obesity 38.3 (2014): 397-403.

Saguy, Abigail, and Rene Almeling. “Fat in the Fire? Science, the News Media, and the ‘Obesity Epidemic’.’’ Sociological Forum 23.1 (2008): 53-83.

Sleglova, Veronika, and Alena Cerna. “Cyberbullying in Adolescent Victims: Perception and Coping.” Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace 5.2 (2011): 5-16.

Wartman, Kristin. Study Shows Fast Food Companies Aggressively Market to Kids, Minorities. 2010. Web.

Wielinski, Stephanie. n.d. Social Media and the Obesity Action Coalition. n.d. Web.

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