You know when you meet a health care professional and you have that feeling of, “Wow, I love the way they communicate! There’s kindness, clarity, and respect”? I hope you say yes!
Well, my guest on my podcast, and the blog this week is exactly that type of provider. Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani (who is called Dr G by her patients) is an internist, author, and a renowned eating disorder expert.
The podcast released yesterday is titled: Social Media’s Influence on Eating Disorders: Insights from Dr. G.
I highly recommend it for you and any teens in your life. Please also know the conversation and this blog includes discussion of eating disorders, body image, and related experiences, so please read or listen with care. And if you or someone you love is affected by these issues you can find a list of support resources below.
In this blog, I highlight a few key points made by Dr. G, regarding media influences and disordered eating. This goes beyond all the skinny images that abound. Things like “SkinnyTok,” which was recently banned by TikTok but is still omnipresent.
In the pod, you’ll hear some fascinating and very helpful examples of how Dr. Gaudiani talks with teens who are experiencing eating disorders. Listeners will definitely notice that her style of talking with teens applies to all sorts of situations, not just around this topic. Give it a listen to see what I mean.
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Register your interest in bringing our new movie to your school or community
In the podcast, Dr. Gaudiani talks about how to untangle the nuances behind eating disorders, distinguishing them from disordered eating, which can often affect far more teens. She also talks about the underrecognized problem of compulsive exercise.
Youth are getting all sorts of “health” messages online, but when does what they see and hear start leading them into unhealthy thinking and behaviors?
Dr. G addresses how platforms like TikTok and Instagram often become breeding grounds for harmful practices disguised as wellness tips. These influences can lead teens down a dark path of food restriction and body insecurity, fueled by an incessant cycle of comparison and the desire for acceptance. In the podcast, she says,
“I see teens who find food rules on TikTok who say, ‘Here’s what I eat in a day,’ and they follow some influencer who looks slender, appealing, accomplished — someone giving a series of food rules that are really arbitrary but couched in anti-scientific terms, like, ‘I’m not dieting, I’m just watching my inflammation,’ or ‘I’m not dieting, I just want better energy.’
Inevitably, there’s a meaningfully restrictive aspect to whatever’s being recommended, because that’s what’s being influenced: Do as I do, and you’ll look like me, or have the power that I have.”
She goes on to say:
“It’s when there starts to become an inability to shift off those rules — when the kid starts to get really triggered and anxious and resistant when something else is offered, when eating spontaneously occurs, when something unexpected like, ‘Hey, let’s go out to dinner tonight,’ happens — and they get that clench.
That’s when I would start to say, we need to look a little more into this, ’cause maybe this has got its hooks too deep.”
It’s crucial that we talk with kids, starting even at age 9 or 10, about how tricky it can be to know what is actually healthy information versus unhealthy information. Even if kids don’t have social media per se, many are on YouTube, or their friends are on social media, and that info gets shared in lunchrooms and group chats.
Let me end with one more excellent point Dr. Gaudiani made — a great one to discuss with youth:
“And the truth is, historically, so many so-called food and body influencers fall out of the public eye. A number of them come back later and say, ‘I’m really sorry. I was peddling something that made me so sick.
In my vegan recommendations, in my intensive vegetarian recommendations, I actually had to stop working and tend to my health. So I’m so sorry.’”
National Alliance for Eating Disorders (“The Alliance”)
National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA)
Crisis Text Line
The Trevor Project (LGBTQ+ Youth)
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Register your interest in bringing our new movie to your school or community
Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel! We add new videos regularly and you'll find over 100 videos covering parenting advice, guidance, podcasts, movie clips and more. Here's our most recent:
As we’re about to celebrate 10 years of Screenagers, we want to hear what’s been most helpful and what you’d like to see next.
Please click here to share your thoughts with us in our community survey. It only takes 5–10 minutes, and everyone who completes it will be entered to win one of five $50 Amazon vouchers.
You know when you meet a health care professional and you have that feeling of, “Wow, I love the way they communicate! There’s kindness, clarity, and respect”? I hope you say yes!
Well, my guest on my podcast, and the blog this week is exactly that type of provider. Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani (who is called Dr G by her patients) is an internist, author, and a renowned eating disorder expert.
The podcast released yesterday is titled: Social Media’s Influence on Eating Disorders: Insights from Dr. G.
I highly recommend it for you and any teens in your life. Please also know the conversation and this blog includes discussion of eating disorders, body image, and related experiences, so please read or listen with care. And if you or someone you love is affected by these issues you can find a list of support resources below.
In this blog, I highlight a few key points made by Dr. G, regarding media influences and disordered eating. This goes beyond all the skinny images that abound. Things like “SkinnyTok,” which was recently banned by TikTok but is still omnipresent.
In the pod, you’ll hear some fascinating and very helpful examples of how Dr. Gaudiani talks with teens who are experiencing eating disorders. Listeners will definitely notice that her style of talking with teens applies to all sorts of situations, not just around this topic. Give it a listen to see what I mean.
In the podcast, Dr. Gaudiani talks about how to untangle the nuances behind eating disorders, distinguishing them from disordered eating, which can often affect far more teens. She also talks about the underrecognized problem of compulsive exercise.
Youth are getting all sorts of “health” messages online, but when does what they see and hear start leading them into unhealthy thinking and behaviors?
Dr. G addresses how platforms like TikTok and Instagram often become breeding grounds for harmful practices disguised as wellness tips. These influences can lead teens down a dark path of food restriction and body insecurity, fueled by an incessant cycle of comparison and the desire for acceptance. In the podcast, she says,
“I see teens who find food rules on TikTok who say, ‘Here’s what I eat in a day,’ and they follow some influencer who looks slender, appealing, accomplished — someone giving a series of food rules that are really arbitrary but couched in anti-scientific terms, like, ‘I’m not dieting, I’m just watching my inflammation,’ or ‘I’m not dieting, I just want better energy.’
Inevitably, there’s a meaningfully restrictive aspect to whatever’s being recommended, because that’s what’s being influenced: Do as I do, and you’ll look like me, or have the power that I have.”
She goes on to say:
“It’s when there starts to become an inability to shift off those rules — when the kid starts to get really triggered and anxious and resistant when something else is offered, when eating spontaneously occurs, when something unexpected like, ‘Hey, let’s go out to dinner tonight,’ happens — and they get that clench.
That’s when I would start to say, we need to look a little more into this, ’cause maybe this has got its hooks too deep.”
It’s crucial that we talk with kids, starting even at age 9 or 10, about how tricky it can be to know what is actually healthy information versus unhealthy information. Even if kids don’t have social media per se, many are on YouTube, or their friends are on social media, and that info gets shared in lunchrooms and group chats.
Let me end with one more excellent point Dr. Gaudiani made — a great one to discuss with youth:
“And the truth is, historically, so many so-called food and body influencers fall out of the public eye. A number of them come back later and say, ‘I’m really sorry. I was peddling something that made me so sick.
In my vegan recommendations, in my intensive vegetarian recommendations, I actually had to stop working and tend to my health. So I’m so sorry.’”
National Alliance for Eating Disorders (“The Alliance”)
National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA)
Crisis Text Line
The Trevor Project (LGBTQ+ Youth)
Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel! We add new videos regularly and you'll find over 100 videos covering parenting advice, guidance, podcasts, movie clips and more. Here's our most recent:
Sign up here to receive the weekly Tech Talk Tuesdays newsletter from Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD.
We respect your privacy.
You know when you meet a health care professional and you have that feeling of, “Wow, I love the way they communicate! There’s kindness, clarity, and respect”? I hope you say yes!
Well, my guest on my podcast, and the blog this week is exactly that type of provider. Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani (who is called Dr G by her patients) is an internist, author, and a renowned eating disorder expert.
The podcast released yesterday is titled: Social Media’s Influence on Eating Disorders: Insights from Dr. G.
I highly recommend it for you and any teens in your life. Please also know the conversation and this blog includes discussion of eating disorders, body image, and related experiences, so please read or listen with care. And if you or someone you love is affected by these issues you can find a list of support resources below.
In this blog, I highlight a few key points made by Dr. G, regarding media influences and disordered eating. This goes beyond all the skinny images that abound. Things like “SkinnyTok,” which was recently banned by TikTok but is still omnipresent.
In the pod, you’ll hear some fascinating and very helpful examples of how Dr. Gaudiani talks with teens who are experiencing eating disorders. Listeners will definitely notice that her style of talking with teens applies to all sorts of situations, not just around this topic. Give it a listen to see what I mean.
The first of more than a thousand school district lawsuits against TikTok, Snapchat, Meta, and YouTube has settled, with a small Kentucky district awarded $27 million. Discovery records made public showed the companies designed to reach kids during the school day, from in-class alerts to keeping notifications on against safety teams' advice, while research finds students spend about 1.5 hours of a 6.5-hour school day on their phones.
READ MORE >
The first of 1,200+ school district lawsuits against social media companies just settled, with Meta, YouTube, Snap, and TikTok all paying out rather than face a jury. Meta points to its Teen Accounts feature as proof of safety, but a study by former Meta safety lead Arturo Bejar found only 8 of 47 advertised features actually work as described.
READ MORE >
Teen psychologist Lisa Damour breaks down three manipulative tactics online games and apps use to push kids into spending: algorithms that time pitches to when kids are tired or bored, scarcity tactics like countdown timers that trigger impulse buys, and in-app currencies (gems, coins, tokens) designed to disguise real dollar costs. Research shows teens resist these tactics better once they understand them.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
