Digital Smarts - Facebook Linked to Body Image Issues and Risky Dieting

An online survey of college-age women showed that those with stronger emotional connections to Facebook (including the amount of time spent each day on the site and number of friends) were more likely to compare their bodies with their friends' bodies and to adopt riskier diet habits. Researchers at the University of North Carolina College of Medicine cautioned that Facebook could be a useful tool to nurture supportive social connections, but that using the site as measuring stick to compare body sizes might foster dangerous dieting behavior. Of course, teens (and adults) need to remember that many people only put up pictures that show them in the most flattering way or even use photo-editing techniques to make them appear thinner than they are.