The disturbing impact of exposure to 8 minutes of TikTok videos revealed in new study

Women who viewed pro-anorexia videos on TikTok experienced a drop in body image satisfaction and were more likely to internalize societal beauty standards.

TikTok has policies in place to regulate such content, but the platform’s algorithm can still inadvertently expose users to harmful videos, especially when users interact with fitness or weight loss-related content.

The average TikTok user spends around 1.5 hours a day on the platform.

The study also examined the relationship between TikTok use and disordered eating behaviors.

Women who reported spending two or more hours on TikTok each day had higher scores on the EAT-26.

The findings did not reach statistical significance, meaning that further research is needed.

The study highlights the negative effects of TikTok ’s algorithm in promoting disordered content.

It also suggests the need for broader regulation of social media platforms.

Eating disorders have the highest fatality rate of any mental health diagnosis.

The study, “#ForYou? the impact of pro-ana TikTok content on body image dissatisfaction and internalisation of societal beauty standards”.