How Social Networks Spread Eating Disorders

Teens are undeniably influenced by those around them, and by what they see on social media from television to the internet. So what happens when western media infiltrates a remote island society?

The result, according to research from Harvard Medical School, is all too familiar. Scientists interested in studying the social influences contributing to eating disorders focused on a population of school girls living in Fiji, an ideal setting to tease apart the impact of television, since in some areas, only 8% of households own TVs while in the more urbanized regions, 85% of homes have owned them since they were first introduced around 1995. By comparing rates of eating disorders, a condition highly subject to social influences, among the girls, the team determined that those exposed to television were 60% more likely to display abnormal eating habits than those without such exposure.

Read the full article at time.com