Social Media's Toxic Influence on Eating Disorders | 7NEWS Spectrum

When Katya Jaski was first diagnosed with atypical anorexia nervosa at the age of 13 in 2020 she didn't think she was sick enough. A year later, at the height of the pandemic, Katya's eating disorder became so serious she was admitted to Melbourne’s Monash Children's Hospital.

If you or anyone you know has an eating disorder, or if you would like information, referrals or counselling for eating disorders, disordered eating or body image concerns, contact The Butterfly Foundation on 1800 33 3673 or butterfly.org.au

If you need help in a crisis, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For further information about depression contact Beyond Blue on 1300224636 or talk to your GP, local health professional or someone you trust.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
I think my eating sort of first developed when lockdown
had sort of just started in Melbourne.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
The simplest way that I like to talk about it
is that the genes load the gun and the environment
pulls the trigger.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
All of that diet culture and those sorts of things
that I mean is only one of the factors that
caused the problem.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
We started our humaid to raise the age of social media.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Seasonship came in to sistem.

Speaker 5 (00:33):
Rob Evans's daughter Live took her own life at fifteen.

Speaker 6 (00:37):
Just the thought of having her been in a hole
underground somewhere by herself. And I'll never get those that
are going words out of my head down and scared,
and I'm so scared.

Speaker 7 (00:46):
We are saying that clients are coming back again and
again and again.

Speaker 8 (00:51):
Okay, let's look at that. What needs to change.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
We are committed to doing whatever we can to prevent
people getting an eating disorder, but knowing what those steps
are and where that money is best spent, that's still
you know, we need to do more work in that space.