Is assistance even possible on this platform?
I generally find it terrible how children get their socialization—and sometimes even their education—from the internet. And here on GF, in particular, we often have people asking questions who are looking for self-affirmation for ruining their own health. They don't know any better. Sometimes, the advice-givers don't either.
Social media has changed so much in the last 10 years. It seems to me that adolescents are increasingly becoming mentally neglected.
In my observation, the current generation of parents isn't even aware of this. I regularly find myself wondering how, as a parent, I can be responsible for leaving minors alone with their cell phones.
How do you assess the role of social media in identifying eating disorders? Do the advantages or disadvantages outweigh the disadvantages?
What means should parents choose to ensure that the issue does not pass them by?
And how should one behave as an advisor here on GF? Due to my profession, I'm somewhat more familiar with the subject than average, but I'm far from being able to say which advice would actually be helpful for the person asking. No details are known, and there's practically no response or interaction.
(13 votes)
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Hello fountain water,
wow, these are quite many, very complex questions, but I try:
How do you assess the social media factor in identifying eating disorders?
Social Media is a factor in a very complex structure. It is problematic that one cannot recognize what is genuine and what is not and the pauseless comparison with a frequently fictional world that is never to be achieved here and now. You have to have a very good self-worth, that you don’t scratch it. And children/young people are often lacking the skills to delimit – if you are an adult, you are mistakenly hard to let the stupid phone lie down.
Do the advantages or disadvantages prevail?
As with many, it depends on how to use it and what to look at. There are also a lot of positive things in social media: self-help groups, experience reports, supporters, … but there is also a lot of self-representation, body images, challenges that go in the other direction. I think the fact is that we can no longer get the social media away and we/parents can only help children navigate this jungle with media competence.
What means should parents choose so that the subject does not pass by you?
I think it begins with the decision of what age, to what extent and on which pages I leave children to the Internet. If I know what they’re looking at, we’ll talk about it, I can help them find out what’s good for them and when they feel bad with the content, how can I strengthen the kids sometimes turn off. Can I talk to them about the fact that not everything in social media is real… media competence will simply be with one of the greatest educational tasks, such as traffic education, sexual education, etc.
And how to behave on GF as a guide?
I believe that the aid can only be limited to the dissemination of information and perhaps reports of experience. You have no responsibility “to save anyone” or to help others. And you could make your community here so that it might put less value on body images and other externalities that everyone feels welcome and so on.
That was a lot of text. I hope there’s been a bite. Greetings,
Sabine
Thank you Sabine