Eating Disorders In Young Adults Essay

Throughout the years social media has been identified as both a positive and negative role in the lives of young adults. The media now has expanded in a broad range of uses that consist of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and etc. The media allows individuals to have a glance at the lives of others simply by viewing one’s own images and videos of themselves. Although the media can play a positive effect in the lives of individuals it can also reinforce undesirable feelings concerning one’s own body. The media was intended to establish communities, meet new people, contact relatives, endorse advertising and etc. It is assumed that the media has significantly increased the chances of individuals to develop eating disorders in young adults. There have been numerous of studies that have shown the negative effects that media has on individual’s. In 1954, psychologist Lesting Festinger developed the theory that individuals can identify oneself social and personal worth based on how people identify themselves. In other words, people start to compare themselves on the things that the individuals may want but do not have or can develop inadequacy. This theory is recognized as …show more content…
Over the past couple of years social media has been identified as both a positive and negative outcome for individuals who are active. The following four literature reviews attempts to identify and support social media contributing to eating disorders in young adults. By understanding the effects that social media can have on young adults allows researchers to have a better understanding and discover more ways on how to prevent them from happening in the future. Thompson and Heinberg (2008) There is an increasing evidence that the media may play a powerful role in the formation of eating disorders and body image disturbances (2008).