Ever snapped a photo of an absolutely mouthwatering burger and shared it with all your social media followers? If so, it turns out you have an eating disorder. A big one.
Ever snapped a photo of an absolutely mouthwatering burger and shared it with all your social media followers? If so, it turns out you have an eating disorder. A big one.
Wait, what?
In the past few days, media outlets across North America have covered a presentation given at the Canadian Obesity Summit, where Dr. Valerie Taylor discussed the evolution of our complicated relationship with food. While Taylor actually argued that it’s only a problem when we can’t attend a social gathering without photographing the associated food or drink, some journalists sensationalized the issue, possibly scaring readers into thinking that posting a single food photo means they should check themselves into a psychiatric ward.
It seems people are too quick to say that social media has turned us all into food-obsessed demons, that food porn is fueling the obesity epidemic, or that a series of Instagram photos of kale is a sign of anorexia. Instead, I’d argue that modern technology affects our relationship with food in positive as well as negative ways, and that most of all, it makes us think more about the stuff we eat. Ultimately, all this talk about eating points to one big question: Is there such a thing as a “normal” relationship with food in the first place?
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