What are Eating Disorders?

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Eating Disorders can be a sore subject for some, but most tend to avoid the sensitivity and ask the question, “How are these diseases provoked?” A prolific amount of people return with a widespread idea declaring it is society that causes young women to starve themselves and acquire eating disorders. These disorders have been around for quite a while, whether many are aware, or not. Throughout the ages, many women have been under pressure to look a certain way. With the aid of internet and cellphones, however, the consummate image of a woman has been broadcasting around the globe since the late 90s. Eating disorders, such as anorexia, are caused by social media and the societal pressures that create low self-images of young women. This disquisition shall prove that those ideas about social media and eating disorders are true, along with how and why. I will delve into how important the internet is and how influential magazines and society can be to young girls. Pushing themselves to look thin, many go too far and end up acquiring eating disorders. Lastly, these diseases are not only in the United States. Societal pressures stretch all around the world and accordingly, eating disorders do as well.
The internet is playing a key role in the lives of young people. Many people are surprised by the numbers of how many teenagers and young adults use the internet. Amanda Lenhart and associates state in the article “Social Media and Young Adults” display that 93% of teens ages 14 through 17 and young adults ages 18 to 29 use the internet (10). The graph shown on page 11 displays the change in how much the numbers of teens using the internet increased from the year 2000 to 2009. A number of teens also have cell phones. The graph displays...

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