Social media, a tool that provokes conversation and attracts so much attention in our news and content saturated world. Everyone has an opinion on whether it’s a source of good or bad, with sufficient arguments for both. Let’s breakdown the benefits and flaws of social media in general, before we dive into how it impacts our eating habits and our behaviour around food.  

The benefits of social media are obvious. It started out as a platform for communicating with friends and family when you wouldn’t have been able to stay in touch otherwise. It’s an incredible source for education, showcasing a multitude of skills, talents, businesses, and crafts, communicated in a way which randomly interests its audience. Platforms like YouTube are capable of catering to all age groups by offering something that interests everyone, whether you’re someone who needs to know how to fix a sink and quickly learn a specific area of plumbing, or you are a new mum who needs some help breastfeeding; if you’ve just moved out and don’t know how to cook it has billions of recipes just waiting for you to be inspired to create them, and even an older audience can learn from YouTube due to its user friendly interface. 

The negatives of social media however have been given more press in recent years with more awareness created as to the risks to people’s mental health, body image or unrealistic expectations. Endless doom scrolling may be joked about however I personally feel quite overwhelmed and drained when I step away from my phone after what feels like very intense and oversaturated scrolling.  

Social media plays a massive role in how we buy and consume food. Social media can promote healthy eating and with plenty of chefs and home cooks inspiring audiences to eat fresher and more organic produce. This side of social media can nurture a healthy relationship with our eating. Social media also influences people to start homesteading to grow their own food. 

However, there is a lot to be said about social media influencers. Lots of people knowing the negative connotations of that label are heading towards calling themselves ‘influencers.’ The term influencer is extremely strange when you consider the implications of the label. At what point did people online feel the need to adjust other people’s behaviour habits and thinking and therefore influence them with their own? Some people online cultivate an audience which listens to what they say, potentially vulnerable people, and then prompt damaging ideas and share questionable information. It is so important to personally filter what you expose yourself to online and remember to fact check. It’s very easy to listen to what you hear online and believe it or trust it, but in this day and age where anyone can pick up a phone, create an account and be given a following and therefore a platform to broadcast their views, it doesn’t mean they should have one and it doesn’t mean that anything they say is rooted in the truth. 

What’s my advice? I quite regularly go through my Instagram and change my preference settings. I tell Instagram by clicking on the three dots what I am and I’m not interested in, therefore catering my feed so I only see what I want to see on my Instagram. This can be done on the for you page and the reels; another thing I do is revisit my following list and see which content creators I do and don’t enjoy. It’s very important to set boundaries with your screen time, I personally am on a self-implemented reel ban! Just remember the only thoughts and opinions that matter when it comes to eating are your own and not the random strangers on the Internet. 

Photo Credit: Unsplash