RUNNING HEAD: EATING DISORDERS INFLUENCED BY SOCIAL MEDIA

Eating Disorders Influenced by Social Media

Sarah Ponce De Leon
The University of Texas at El Paso

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Abstract
Eating disorders have grown to be more common to develop in an individual. In fact it is said that
millions of Americans, female and male, have developed an eating disorder. A factor influencing the
development of eating disorders is said to be social media. This paper analyzes an article by Marcela
Rojas, Social media helps fuel some eating disorders, arguing that social media can be a factor to
developing some eating disorders, and a photograph taken by Mark Vergari showing an image that shows
what the eyes if someone with an eating disorder feels. The analysis will include the rhetorical appeals of
ethos, logos, and pathos showing how strong or weak the article was constructed.

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A medical condition that has been detected more and more throughout the years is having
an eating disorder. Eating disorders have developed in many, and have become a well-known
medical condition, examples of them being anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. According to
Marcela Rojas the author of Social media helps fuel some eating disorders, social media is a
factor on why eating disorders have developed (Rojas, 2014). In her article she includes
statistics, reliable sources, and emotional conflict.
To begin with, the author of the article Social media helps fuel some eating disorders is
Marcela Rojas. Marcela Rojas is a reporter for The Journal News in Westchester County, N.Y.
According to the Lohud Putnam Blog, Rojas has been a reporter for The Journal News for over
ten years (2010). The author throughout her article refers back to many sources, sources such as:
Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest all of these known social sites (Rojas, 2014).
Anyone that is active on social media will recognize at least one of the sources mentioned. Rojas
uses information from the National Institute of Mental Health; this institute is the largest
scientific organization world wide dedicated to research. NEDA, the National Eating Disorders
Association is also mentioned in the article, this association is the largest advocacy association
for eating disorders. These are not the only sources Rojas uses in her article that are credible;
another example can be the New York State Psychiatric Institute (Rojas, 2014). All of the sources
that the author uses in her article have years of researching eating disorders, the professionals
working in every organization have developed tests producing statistics in the subject of eating
disorders. Rojas uses many strong sources on eating disorders for her article. This meaning that
everything statistical included in the article is true because of her strong credible sources. Ethos
is seen throughout the article through her use of statistics, figures, and other miscellaneous facts
that affect a significant portion of the population. When her readers read her article they will see

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the numbers of countless people that have either suffered, died, or have had other medical
complications due to eating disorders especially from anorexia and bulimia. An example can be,
Anorexia, in particular, has a mortality rate 12 times higher than any other cause of death in
women ages 15 to 24, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. (Rojas, 2014). This
showing that eating disorders are fatal and that there are statistics showing how fatal the eating
disorder can be.
Continuing, the visual used in the article by Marcela Rojas is a photograph taken by Mark
Vergari. Vergari is a well-known photographer for The Journal News, Westchester County, N.Y.
The visual is presented with a caption that says Treatment pamphlets are offered before the start
of an eating disorder program at the Rockland Jewish Family Services in West Nyack, N.Y.; this
shows that the visual is about eating disorders pamphlets that were provided before a program
for eating disorders (Rojas, 2014). This shows that the visual includes information about the
articles topic. The visual on the photograph is mainly focused on the visual provided on the
pamphlet showing relation to eating disorders. Rojas does mention some information on the
Rockland Jewish Family Services in her article, yet it is not enough to make an image from the
services the main image and the only image displayed on the article. The image should have a
stronger relation with the articles title. This would have created a stronger foundation of the
whole article.
Secondly, Marcela Rojas seems to be a well-known reporter for more than ten years, her
strong writing subjects have been immigration and many topics that expand usually examining
national and state policies as they affect local communities (Lohud Putnam Blog, 2010).
Marcela Rojas has no history in writing about eating disorders. This may question her article
because she is a strong writer for different topics, but not for eating disorders. Rojas did provide

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more than enough sources in her article, but is this a good thing or a bad thing? She provides
information on how eating disorders are being fueled by social media by showing hash tags that
are being used in social media such as #thinspogram #thighgap #bonespo and messages like,
Pretty girls dont eat and Skip dinner, be thinner (Rojas, 2014). The information she
provided clearly shows evidence on how social media has persuaded individuals to being thin by
not eating, this leading to eating disorders. The information provided by all of the sources in the
article all make sense and flow very well into the article. This is because all of the sources are
well known to advocate eating disorders. Rojass analysis between social media and the sources
she uses in her article is well thought because everything coincides. As the article progresses
there is only the use of source after source. There comes a point where there seems to be a
saturation of sources for such a short article. It seems as if the author gathered reliable
information from many places and threw it into the article. The fact that she provides reliable
sources doesnt mean she has to use them all in such a short article. A different way to use all of
the sources is to provide more analysis on the information Rojas gathered from all of the sources
creating a longer article. It is understandable why the author would like to provide fact after fact,
yet that cannot be the only information provided throughout the article. There should be more
analysis within the article. Yes the author stays with the topic of the article and always connects
eating disorders with social media and by all means proves her point, yet other things should
have been included to the rhetoric in order to not look saturated with facts.
The visual used in this article is a good image on eating disorders provided by a known
character in the field of photography for the Journal News, Mark Vergari. It is a good photograph
because at glance you can tell what the article is going to be about. Yet it has no visual on social
media, yes it includes imagery on eating disorders but that is it. The article might have been

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stronger if the visual would have been shown larger on the article; this is because the image is
very small and on the top left side of the article. Also if the picture some sort of visual on social
media, it would attract more and it would of made the title stronger. The reason why it would
attract more is because we live in a world of technology and social media anything that has to do
with social media will most likely attract a crowd. The visual could also serve as a persuasion
tool to different discourse communities to read the article, some people are visual yet if they are
intrigued by the visual they just might have the interest to know more therefore gaining more
audience for the article.
Lastly, Rojas seems to use personal quotes of professionals and of victims of eating
disorders. She begins her article with a small testimony of an individual by the name of Donna.
Even though there is just a slight testimony of this individual it is impacting. As someone who
suffered from bulimia from age 12 to 25 and endured its agonizing effects dental erosion,
swollen glands, loss of her period and a half-dozen or so hospitalizations her will to live is far
greater than the allure of social media, (Rojas, 2014). There is enough detail in this quote to
help anyone understand the dangers of experiencing an eating disorder. The author creates
Donnas testimony the introduction to her article to capture peoples attention. It was also a great
way to end the first paragraph; this is because it barely starts the topic of social media
influencing eating disorders and why the victim Donna will restrain from it. This is done through
an emotional appeal as well as other sources used in the article. An author knows that while
trying to get a point across, using emotion is the key. Going for an individuals emotions will
easily persuade them to at least listen. It is nature to a human being to connect with something
that touches their emotion in any way such as: sadness, curiosity or humor. Certain use of words
can cause emotion. An example can be, An estimated 30 million Americans suffer from a

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clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life, according to NEDA, (Rojas,
2014). Out of the entire phrase there is one word that will enter a persons emotions, the word
suffer, the author could have used the word experience, but she did not. This is because the
word would reach into the emotional being of someone. The individual would be able to
somehow feel the awareness that the article is trying to provide. Just that one word will be able
to generate concern in many. The word suffer is used severally throughout the article, thus
generating a negative feel filled with concern in individuals.
Usually when dark colors are used in a visual it is to show a negative thought or idea. In
the visual used, dark colors are mostly in the background and in the shadow that forms behind a
thin woman. The shadow behind the young woman portrays a large woman. The visual just at
sight can already tell the audience what the article is about. If someone for some reason does not
know how an eating disorder works the visual can make the audience gain a small understanding
on how it all works. This visual clearly shows how the woman feels on the inside, feeling fat and
looking upset. That all goes back to the use of dark colors. The author knows that a visual can
easily reach to the audiences emotions faster than any article, which is the reason why articles
will usually include some visual source.
In conclusion, even though Marcela Rojas, the author of the article Social media helps
fuel some eating disorders, is not known to write about eating disorders she makes a very strong
statement in this article. She used every source possible to make her statement clear. The use of
ethos, logos, and pathos in her article was clear, Rojas took everything she could find and
arranged the information in such a way that the title of her article came alive. The way the article
was formatted was great; it took emotion as an eye catcher. As she obtained the audiences
attention she planted credibility and ethics after the introduction of her article. All throughout the

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article pathos was included. Eating disorders is something that will have to reach the audiences
emotions to catch their attention, as a writer Rojas must have known this, therefore making the
structure of the article in such a way that would keep the audience engaged. Eating disorders are
something everyone should be aware of and voicing it just like Marcela Rojas did was a big step
to making a change. The only fact Rojas did not make was that it is not necessarily social media
that fuels eating disorders but the misuse of it to communicate negative advice, and to make
negative trends hurting others emotionally and physically.

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References
Rojas, M., the (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News, (2014, June 1) Social media helps fuel
some eating disorders. Retrieved from
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/01/social-media-helps-fuel-eatingdisorders/9817513/
Staff of lohud.com and the Journal News, (2010, September) Lohud Putman Blog. Retrieved
from http://putnam.lohudblogs.com/author/mrojas/