A new study has shown that watching videos lasting no more than 8 minutes on TikTok can negatively affect women's body image. Based on the results of this study, experts have called for stricter restrictions on harmful content on social media. Eating disorder specialists stated that the harmful content reported on TikTok is not prevented by the platform's guidelines and is rarely removed.
Researchers led by Charles Sturt University conducted a survey of 273 women aged between 18 and 28 regarding their body image and beauty standards, then divided the sample into two groups. Each group watched different 8-minute TikTok videos. One group watched TikTok content that included videos glorifying eating disorders, which are sometimes referred to as "pro-anorexia" content. This content included "fitspiration" videos of women exercising and promoting weight loss methods. The other group viewed "neutral" videos about nature, cooking, and comedy.
After the experiment, both groups showed a decrease in body satisfaction. However, the women who watched weight loss-related videos left much more negative comments. Additionally, their beauty standards changed unrealistically. Researchers reported that women who used TikTok for more than two hours a day reported more disturbances in their eating behavior.
The researchers noted that the study "showed that less than 10 minutes of exposure to implicit and explicit pro-anorexia content on TikTok had immediate negative consequences on body image and the internalization of appearance ideals." The results were published in the journal Plos One on Wednesday, where researchers expressed concern that young women exposed to pro-anorexia content on TikTok may face an increased risk of developing an eating disorder.
