Achi news desk-
There are many risks when it comes to young people using screens – and a new international study shows that weight-related bullying may be among them.
The more time young people spend on screens and social media, the more likely they are to be bullied about their weight, according to the study.
The study, published Wednesday in PLOS One, analyzed data from the 2020 International Food Policy Study Youth Survey and included more than 12,000 young people aged 10 to 17 in Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“Each additional hour of social media use was associated with a 13 percent increase in weight-related bullying,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Kyle Ganson, assistant professor in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at Cardiff University. Toronto.
Use of Twitter, now known as X, and Twitch were associated with the greatest increase in weight-related bullying, with increases of 69 percent and 49 percent, respectively, the study showed.
A spokesperson for X said the social media platform’s policies had evolved since the data was first collected. “X has made significant changes to all of its enforcement policies and protocols to protect minors, despite having less than 1 percent of US users aged 13-17 and strictly prohibiting children under 13 from having an account, ” said Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, via email.
A Twitch spokesperson said the platform prioritizes user safety and applies community guidelines to all of its content.
“There is no place for harassment on Twitch, or anywhere online,” Twitch spokeswoman Elizabeth Busby said via email. “We actively enforce these rules and have developed a number of tools, such as AutoMod, which help prevent harmful messages from appearing in chat conversations.
“We will continue to seek feedback from our community about their experiences on Twitch, including our Safety Advisory Council, Ambassadors, and the Guilds. This feedback is invaluable as we review and update our policies to better address evolving harmful behaviour.”
“We also want to underline that users under the age of 13 are not allowed to use Twitch, and we are leveraging a range of tools to prevent the creation of these accounts,” added Busby.
The results are not surprising, given the well-established relationship between social media use and problems such as disordered eating and poor body image, said Kendrin Sonneville, associate professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Sonneville was not involved in the research.
“Weight stigma and bias are common on social media,” Ganson said in an email. “These findings highlight that young people face weight-specific bullying, which may further increase the risk of developing poor body image, disordered eating, and depression and anxiety.”
Don’t side with the bully
Sometimes the desire to help your child avoid being bullied can become really unhelpful, says Oona Hanson, a parenting coach in Los Angeles.
“Every fiber of (a parent’s) being wants to prevent their child from going through that,” Hanson said. “And because of the way our culture works, it seems like, ‘Oh, well, the simple answer is let’s make the body different so that this child’s body won’t be teased or bullied. .’”
Sonneville has seen such an approach played out far too often.
“Unfortunately, I have seen parents try to support their child through experiences of weight-based bullying by suggesting they try to ‘eat healthier’ or ‘lose some weight’,” she said in an email. “Young people, regardless of body size, do not deserve to be ridiculed or abused because of their weight.”
If your efforts to help send the message that your teen should change his body, you may accidentally side with the bully instead of your child, he says.
“Because of the child’s experience, now the bully tells them their body is wrong, and the parent says, ‘Yeah, let’s fix your body,'” Hanson added.
To be on your child’s side, it’s important to validate their feelings, remind them that the problem is the bullying — not their body — and listen, she says.
“We can talk too much as parents, and we really need to try to listen and let our children know that their feelings are important and that we want to hear them,” said Hanson.
Opening up about the reality of social media
One of the positive things that can come from this latest research is if families use it to better understand the digital environment their children navigate and to open up conversations around it, Ganson said.
“Social media use is ubiquitous among adolescents,” he added. “It is important for adults in their lives to be aware of their use, the content they engage with, and support media literacy to ensure they use social media appropriately and are protected from harm possible.”
Ganson recommends having conversations with your children about bullying, especially around pressure, and how they can think about the comments they might see online.
Then, you can come up with solutions together on how to handle social media moving forward, Hanson says.
Your children’s school may have support resources, your children may decide to make their accounts private, or your family may place limits on screen time, says Hanson.
“Weight-based bullying can have a significant impact on young people’s health and should be taken seriously,” said Sonneville.
