De-Influencing Diet Culture One Click at a Time to Detox your Algorithm
- Feb 24
- 8 min read
What is the #DeInfluencingDietCulture Campaign and Why is it Important?
“Online, young people are exposed to the ever-changing societal ideals of the ‘desired body’, with perfection as the end goal”
Alexandra Dane & Komal Bhatia, The Social Media Diet, PLOS Global Public Health, 2023
Written by Charlotte Beattie
Content Guidance: The purpose of this article is to explain the #deinfluencingdietculture campaign which explores themes of disordered eating and mental health struggles as a result of social media consumption.
In February 2026, the #DeInfluencingDietCulture campaign began after many months of research and development into the issue of social media consumption and its correlation to disordered eating behaviours and the well-being of Generation Z women and students alike. The campaign aims to grow alongside its audience with themes rooted in mental strength and resilience to diet culture on social media.
Diet culture online has fluctuated for many years, exposing young women to societal beauty standards that are unattainable or focus on specific ‘end goals’ which encourages unhealthy and- in some circumstances- disordered eating behaviours. 70% of women claim to edit their images due to dissatisfaction with their natural appearance as a result of social media consumption as found in the Eating Disorder Recovery Centre’s research in 2024 by Rebecca Pacun. Dane & Bhatia’s research in the PLOS Global Public Health Journal, Social Media Diet Review 2023 saw a surge in the use of social media apps like TikTok and Instagram being used by 91% of the UK and US adolescents and over 50% checking these at least once per hour which causes the content consumed on these apps to have a detrimental impact on these young users.
As part of my research, I interviewed Laura Brown from the Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse department at Bath Spa University who discussed the influence of social media since users are subject to feedback in the form of likes, comments and shares. Brown said that social media “becomes an echo chamber and a self-reinforcing mechanism, making it hard to think differently or maintain an openness to other ways of seeing and being.” This reinforces the significance of encouraging social media users to think independently when scrolling and accept their self-worth to decrease the direct impact that it can have on mental health.
“Social media makes it much harder to gain a sense of self-worth from an internal locus of valuation, given how pervasive social media is, consuming so much of people’s time and attention every day.”
Laura Brown, Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse Caseworker at Bath Spa University
Brown continued to discuss why social media specifically is so detrimental to the impact it has on users since “social media makes it much harder to gain a sense of self-worth from an internal locus of valuation, given how pervasive social media is, consuming so much of people’s time and attention every day”. As such a prominent part of everyday life in modern society- social media is a key starting point for studying and improving audiences’ relationships with consumption, diet culture and body image.
The impact diet culture on social media has on women
So, why is #DeInfluencingDietCulture targeting an audience of women specifically?
When interviewing Brown, I asked her about her own research and experiences from the sexual violence sector on women’s treatment from men growing up in a patriarchal system. She discussed the controlling nature of heterosexual relationships and how “feminists have talked about the cult of thinness perhaps connecting to the notion that women should take up less space than men” and how this translates into relationships and beauty standards. When I asked Brown about how she believes this exists on social media she explained that “I still think there’s a much greater emphasis on women to conform to certain beauty standards, and their worth being based so much more on this than other features.”
“Feminists have talked about the cult of thinness perhaps connecting to the notion that women should take up less space than men.”
Laura Brown, Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse Caseworker at Bath Spa University
This concept of female beauty and vulnerability is then taken advantage of by companies on social media networks which makes “a lasting impact on how women view themselves” as discussed by Emilie Conners in Volume 13/ Number 2 of the Atlantic Marketing Journal 2024. This lasting impact is evident as study's researched by Daniel Matthew in Volume 10/ Number 4 of the Journal of Cosmetology & Trichology 2024 show that “exposure to unrealistic beauty ideals can lead to increased body dissatisfaction, anxiety, and depression particularly amongst young women” since young women are the demographic that are largely profitable from companies exploiting female beauty standards originating from patriarchal and misogynistic views.
Edited and mediated versions of ‘beautiful women’ on social media and their impact on users and young women has caused a surge in movements like The Body Positivity Movement accepting authentic bodies of all shapes and sizes. However, this divide between authenticity and stereotypical curated ‘beauty’ leaves users feeling “torn between embracing their natural beauty and striving to meet societal expectations perpetuated by social media” as continued by Matthew 2024. Therefore #DeInfluencingDietCulture is aiming to grow and combat this divide by encouraging natural beauty and self-love over meeting the unattainable goal of female perfection and beauty curated by societal beauty standards.
A student’s perspective
As a student myself living in Bath surrounded by a community of fellow students- it became clear to me how the women around me were feeling as though they needed to conform to the beauty standards that they were seeing online. Including myself.
Social media was encouraging consumers to only feel confident when they reflected the ‘cult of thinness’ portrayed by influencers promoting fad diets and quick fixes when, in reality, the only fix you should be making is developing the relationship you have with your body as it is now. #DeInfluencingDietCulture is a student led campaign helping students in Bath & Northeast Somerset so I took to gaining a student perspective on the subject from Cali-Rose Foster:
Q.) What impact does diet culture have on you as a social media user?
A.) Diet culture makes me far more critical of myself and the choices I make. Seeing posts with harmful messages about weight and dieting makes me aware of the ways I don’t live up to those particular standards, even when I can recognise those ideas are harmful and toxic. It makes it difficult to have a healthy relationship with my body and the food I eat because so much social media content is negative and critical when it comes to weight and body image, without offering any positivity or ideas on building a healthy self-image.
Q.) What platform is most impactful when it comes to diet culture and why?
A.) I think Instagram and TikTok are currently really impactful in diet culture, even just on account of being two of the most popular platforms right now. Both rely very heavily on visual short form content, which I think lends itself easily to people spreading toxic ideas about diet culture. At the same time, I think there’s definitely been and increase (at least that I’ve seen on Instagram) in people criticising these toxic mindsets and trying to create positive, healthy rhetorics around body image instead.
Q.) Do you think social media is regulated well to prevent harmful content in relation to food and body image?
A.) Not as far as I’ve ever seen. Most reporting features on social media that are meant to protect users from harmful content are not efficient enough. Posts are typically only taken down when they are extremely explicit or inarguably harmful, whereas a lot of content that perpetuates diet culture is more subtle and sneaky in its messaging.
Q.) How do you avoid being impacted negatively by diet culture when using social media platforms?
A.) I do my best to avoid and block anything that brings up negative feelings about my looks, my body, and my diet. It can be difficult when I come across posts that enforce the ideas about myself that I’m already struggling with.
Q.) How important are online communities to you and your relationship with food and body image?
A.) I follow quite a few food creators, and while a lot of them might not specifically talk about diet culture or body image, none of them engage in toxic diet culture. It’s helped me to rebuild my relationship with food in seeing people online enjoying and loving food so much. Recipes from food content creators have helped me a lot as well, because even though I don’t end up making many of them, just being able to recognise when I come across food that excites me or I’d want to try has helped make me more positive about food.
How to detox your algorithm- the concept of critical thinking on social media:
Becky Burger, senior social media manager for Eating Recovery Center and Pathlight Mood & Anxiety stated in Rebecca Pacun’s blog 2024 that “when used responsibly by users, brands and creators, social media can be a great source of information, education, entertainment, support and community.” This is what #DeInfluencingDietCulture is hoping to achieve:
Whilst creating an online community to combat the negativity and toxicity that is prevalent on social media platforms- #DeInfluencingDietculture has an end goal to communicate the concept of critical thinking on social media in order to decrease the impact that diet culture online can have on its users. The content and workshops as part of this campaign intend to educate a safer use of social media alongside providing outlets and resources to benefit your wellbeing and body image.
How to think more critically on social media:
Watch out for misinformation- advice on wellness, exercise and eating habits on social media tends to come from influencers and brands profiting from these statements rather than being professional, qualified and proven facts.
Reassess your algorithm- unfollow, block or report accounts that encourage diet culture or that are impacting your mental health negatively. Instead, follow accounts who are de-influencing diet culture and breaking down stereotypes of beauty.
Think twice- why is this content being uploaded? Why might they be promoting this? Is it bias? Is it for profit? There are many reasons a post may be uploaded, and this is important to consider before being influenced by its surface level messaging.
Remember your worth- you are beautiful, worthy and loved just as you are. You are more than your body and content on social media platforms can’t take that away from you.
Remember this self-acceptance and self-love journey is unique to you- due to its prevalence and sharing nature, social media creates a façade and ideal of perfection that only exists online. Your self-love journey is exactly that- your own.
“I would love for there to be much more prominent examples and counter-ideologies in mainstream media and culture that took a critical stance on all of these issues and presented alternatives”
Laura Brown, Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse Caseworker at Bath Spa University
To end my interview with Brown, I asked her what resources she would like to see to help young women. She said that “I would love for there to be much more prominent examples and counter-ideologies in mainstream media and culture that took a critical stance on all of these issues and presented alternatives”. This is precisely what #DeInfluencingDietCulture is aiming to provide for young women. A safe space and a community for women and students to discuss the impact of diet culture whilst learning to love themselves and value their body in a way that mainstream social media and beauty standards teach us otherwise.
NEED HELP NOW?
Text ‘SHOUT’ to 85258
OR
Reach out to SWEDA UK for counselling & support calls if you or a friend is living with an eating disorder- swedauk.org
Call BEAT Eating Disorders free helpline- 0808 801 0677 from Monday-Friday 3pm-8pm
Call the Mindline for help with any mental health concerns- 0808 175 1369 and select option 2 from Tuesday-Friday 3pm-9pm
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