It is not necessarily all negative effects that come from ‘foodstaramming’, there are some positives, for example by snapping food and drinks constantly, we are more aware than ever of what we are putting into our bodies. However a majority of the time the ‘foodporn’ blasted across social media is food full of fats, salt and sugars which is playing a part in the obesity epidemic that continues around the UK, and worldwide.
Dr Valerie Taylor talked at the Canadian Obesity Summit about the growing relationship social media has to food and people alike. Many journalists have stated that you must have some kind of mental problem if you obsessively snap pictures of everything you eat. However, this isn’t always the case. The problem is knowing when to stop. Can you attend a social gathering without the risk of whipping out your smart phone to get a snap of your every mouthful?
Food porn has been labeled as an issue linked to the obesity epidemic, having said that, it’s also been said if you are constantly loading up pictures of salad that you may have anorexia. So which one is it? Is there such thing as a normal relationship with food, or is every angle of food within modern technology going to be criticized?
Dr Taylor says the main issue with the likes of‘foodstagramming’is that food is no longer considered as ‘fuel’. Nowadays food is not just part of a social event but it has become an event in itself. The development of food in social media has had both a positive and negative effect. The apps such as ‘The Eatery’ and ‘FitID’ are allowing users to upload photos of their meals and even go as far as let other people judge how healthy their meals are. These kind of apps have been said to help people proportion how much they are eating and eat less in doing so, making users gain healthier eating habits.
However, it could also be argued that people only post the healthy photos and keep to themselves when they are scoffing down 12 sugared donuts… Could it be argued that this ashamed feeling grows when we see fitness guru’s blasting healthy snacks all over social media, when we have just consumed a greasy snack we arnt quite so proud to share with the internet.
Food, has and always will, provoke many different emotions within people, including shame and pride. Eating links closely to self-image and our health and fitness habits and routines, and although there isn’t necessarily a ‘right’ way to feel about food, social media makes us feel like there is. This constant judging of one another engulfs social media, not just within food, but in every aspect. Food, however, and our views on it, have changed remarkably in recent years and the craze is sadly still young, so watch out for many more years of your social media feeds being filled with delicious treats, both healthy and not!
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