Instagram. I’m going to assume that the majority of you reading this post will have it, and admittedly, I am addicted to the app myself. What I am also guilty of, is following many fitness and wellness bloggers, constantly scrolling through their pages in admiration, wishing I had figures similar to theirs.
Although I do enjoy looking at these pages, I often find myself comparing my figure and lifestyle to theirs, I’m sure as many others do. Recently, I found an interesting blog post written by a female named Emily McMullin, who was writing as a guest writer for the blog ‘Not Plant Based’. In this post she discusses how she battled with multiple eating disorders as a teenager, and how she felt social media had a large effect on her illness. She argues how Instagram has the potential to be the most dangerous of all social networking sites because of how it is simply image based. And I personally couldn’t agree more.
As Emily also states, eating healthily and wanting to have a healthy body is undoubtedly important. Yet this does not mean a specific strict diet should be followed. With the current craze of ‘clean eating’, there is the danger of this resulting in young people being brainwashed by what they see online, and feeling bad about themselves if they do not follow a similar lifestyle. A key part of the ‘clean eating’ craze that I wasn’t aware of before I started researching more in to the topic, is that some bloggers often push the idea of cutting out food groups. Personally, I feel that this is such extreme advice, that bloggers must be careful and understand who there audience is. With social media sites like Instagram, it’s so hard to manage who is seeing what, and how they might be effected. Sadly, on Instagram it’s not hard to find accounts that are ‘pro-anorexia’ or that promote an extremely dangerous way of eating and living. Although this is definitley an extreme case in comparison to clean eating blogs, it’s important to recognise how influential social media can be. An account that simply promotes the idea of healthy living and clean eating could ultimately give the wrong message to those that put themselves down for not having a similar lifestyle.
So what if I have a takeaway?
Sometimes eating perfectly and living in a certain way isn’t possible. I’ve found since studying at university, eating a perfect diet isn’t always the easiest option. Healthier foods are often much more expensive, and in terms of my social life, I often go out for drinks with friends, or have takeaway nights, but I often keep reminding myself that I shouldn’t be made to feel bad about this. There is no doubt that many healthy eating bloggers, and those that show their perfect diet through their Instagram most likely go out with friends too, or have the occasional takeaway. It’s vital to remember that the bloggers who share their lives on social media, will undeniably have days where they don’t eat perfectly or don’t feel like spending hours at the gym. No one should be made to feel guilty about having the occaisonal chocolate bar, or not doing exercise if they don’t feel like it.
Be Happy and Healthy
Some accounts on Instagram do motivate me to have a healthier lifestyle, but I often find myself questioning if I need one. Although I’m not at the gym everyday, and eating the most healthiest of foods, having a positive mentality and doing what makes me happy is what I try to focus on most, and I feel this outlook is often masked by social media. Emily McMullin who I mentioned previously, took to deleting her Instagram account completely, due to the damage it was causing for her wellbeing. If a social networking site is causing stress to young people, is it really that safe? Should Instagram have some tighter regulation? This is undeniably a problem zone for the site, but it’s also something they have little control over. Fitness and wellness bloggers mean to promote a positive message, so therefore they aren’t necessarily doing anything wrong. Yet it is obvious that some accounts are having a negative effect on young people, as they are so obsessed with new diet crazes, they lose focus on the importance of being happy, as well as healthy.
For more information on Emily’s incredible story take a look at her blog post here.
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