We often hear about social media’s impact on body image, but what can we learn from someone who’s experienced it firsthand, developing a serious exercise and eating disorder?
And what can her journey to recovery teach us?
The latest episode of my Parenting in the Screen Age podcast features Isabelle, a teenager who shares her story.
It all started in 8th grade with the goal of losing a lot of weight. She also started exercising a lot. Her internal struggles were made worse by the constant stream of triggering content on platforms like TikTok. Isabelle opens up about how social media shaped her self-perception and how therapy, hospitalization, and strong family support helped her begin to heal.
Today I will share the start of my interview with Isabelle. It is a powerful piece that could serve as a good starting point for an important conversation with teens in your life.
Please also know the our conversation includes discussion of eating disorders, body image, and related experiences, so please read or listen with care. And if you or someone you love is affected by these issues you’ll find a list of support resources below.
What is wonderful is that we hear not only from Isabelle but also from her parents and how things changed for Isabelle, who was starting college when I interviewed her.
So here is part of our conversation, which starts with Isabelle talking about when the exercise and eating disorder, beginning when she was in 8th grade.
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
ISABELLE: I was doing softball and track, so that's when I got exposed to all the healthy eating trends. The whole reason I started getting into dieting was because one of my friends that was on my softball team lost like 40 pounds in such a short amount of time.
That's when I started experiencing body dysmorphia. I was in eighth grade when this happened.
DELANEY: And what do you remember your thinking starting to become?
ISABELLE: I just thought I wanted to become skinny. I never really thought about my weight before then.
DELANEY: And did you have a phone at the time or access to social media?
ISABELLE: Yes, I had an iPhone 11, and at that point, I had Instagram and Snapchat, and TikTok. That is the big one. TikTok is its own thing. I mean, you see all these fad diets, "what I eat in a day", and then eventually there's calorie tracking. Like I got introduced to MyFitnessPal through TikTok. That all started with body dysmorphia — with TikTok.
DELANEY: What were you doing for exercise?
ISABELLE: I would do high-intensity interval training, or as they call it, HIIT workouts. I was also in softball at this point, so I would go to softball practice. The coach would put on Insanity High-Intensity Interval Training. At night, when my parents were asleep I would work out more.
DELANEY: Had your parents known, or what were they thinking?
ISABELLE: No, my parents thought like, oh, it's just a phase.
DELANEY: You mentioned TikTok, Instagram. How was that impacting things, if at all?
ISABELLE: Everyone looked so happy. I started comparing my body to theirs. I mean, even people I knew, I was like, oh, they're so skinny, they're perfect. I have to be like that. So. It is like, almost like I hung a picture of them on my wall, and I was like, this is what I need to be
DELANEY: Was it comparing yourself more to your peers or to influencers or models?
ISABELLE: It was everyone. I kept on seeing TikToks, and eventually I got into “eating disordered TikTok”. It all says trigger warning and whatever, but everyone still watches, like everybody ignores the content warnings. You just click okay, because you're still curious.
That's when I would see people who would only drink like half a Red Bull, and that's it. They were just projecting everything onto social media for me to see...
That was just a glimpse of our conversation. Listen to the full episode to hear how intense it got for Isabelle and the powerful turning point towards her recovery that followed.
Listen Here: Apple Podcasts // Spotify // YouTube // Website
National Alliance for Eating Disorders (“The Alliance”)
National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA)
Crisis Text Line
The Trevor Project (LGBTQ+ Youth)
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel! We add new videos regularly and you'll find over 100 videos covering parenting advice, guidance, podcasts, movie clips and more. Here's our most recent:
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We often hear about social media’s impact on body image, but what can we learn from someone who’s experienced it firsthand, developing a serious exercise and eating disorder?
And what can her journey to recovery teach us?
The latest episode of my Parenting in the Screen Age podcast features Isabelle, a teenager who shares her story.
It all started in 8th grade with the goal of losing a lot of weight. She also started exercising a lot. Her internal struggles were made worse by the constant stream of triggering content on platforms like TikTok. Isabelle opens up about how social media shaped her self-perception and how therapy, hospitalization, and strong family support helped her begin to heal.
Today I will share the start of my interview with Isabelle. It is a powerful piece that could serve as a good starting point for an important conversation with teens in your life.
Please also know the our conversation includes discussion of eating disorders, body image, and related experiences, so please read or listen with care. And if you or someone you love is affected by these issues you’ll find a list of support resources below.
What is wonderful is that we hear not only from Isabelle but also from her parents and how things changed for Isabelle, who was starting college when I interviewed her.
So here is part of our conversation, which starts with Isabelle talking about when the exercise and eating disorder, beginning when she was in 8th grade.
ISABELLE: I was doing softball and track, so that's when I got exposed to all the healthy eating trends. The whole reason I started getting into dieting was because one of my friends that was on my softball team lost like 40 pounds in such a short amount of time.
That's when I started experiencing body dysmorphia. I was in eighth grade when this happened.
DELANEY: And what do you remember your thinking starting to become?
ISABELLE: I just thought I wanted to become skinny. I never really thought about my weight before then.
DELANEY: And did you have a phone at the time or access to social media?
ISABELLE: Yes, I had an iPhone 11, and at that point, I had Instagram and Snapchat, and TikTok. That is the big one. TikTok is its own thing. I mean, you see all these fad diets, "what I eat in a day", and then eventually there's calorie tracking. Like I got introduced to MyFitnessPal through TikTok. That all started with body dysmorphia — with TikTok.
DELANEY: What were you doing for exercise?
ISABELLE: I would do high-intensity interval training, or as they call it, HIIT workouts. I was also in softball at this point, so I would go to softball practice. The coach would put on Insanity High-Intensity Interval Training. At night, when my parents were asleep I would work out more.
DELANEY: Had your parents known, or what were they thinking?
ISABELLE: No, my parents thought like, oh, it's just a phase.
DELANEY: You mentioned TikTok, Instagram. How was that impacting things, if at all?
ISABELLE: Everyone looked so happy. I started comparing my body to theirs. I mean, even people I knew, I was like, oh, they're so skinny, they're perfect. I have to be like that. So. It is like, almost like I hung a picture of them on my wall, and I was like, this is what I need to be
DELANEY: Was it comparing yourself more to your peers or to influencers or models?
ISABELLE: It was everyone. I kept on seeing TikToks, and eventually I got into “eating disordered TikTok”. It all says trigger warning and whatever, but everyone still watches, like everybody ignores the content warnings. You just click okay, because you're still curious.
That's when I would see people who would only drink like half a Red Bull, and that's it. They were just projecting everything onto social media for me to see...
That was just a glimpse of our conversation. Listen to the full episode to hear how intense it got for Isabelle and the powerful turning point towards her recovery that followed.
Listen Here: Apple Podcasts // Spotify // YouTube // Website
National Alliance for Eating Disorders (“The Alliance”)
National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA)
Crisis Text Line
The Trevor Project (LGBTQ+ Youth)
Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel! We add new videos regularly and you'll find over 100 videos covering parenting advice, guidance, podcasts, movie clips and more. Here's our most recent:
Sign up here to receive the weekly Tech Talk Tuesdays newsletter from Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD.
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We often hear about social media’s impact on body image, but what can we learn from someone who’s experienced it firsthand, developing a serious exercise and eating disorder?
And what can her journey to recovery teach us?
The latest episode of my Parenting in the Screen Age podcast features Isabelle, a teenager who shares her story.
It all started in 8th grade with the goal of losing a lot of weight. She also started exercising a lot. Her internal struggles were made worse by the constant stream of triggering content on platforms like TikTok. Isabelle opens up about how social media shaped her self-perception and how therapy, hospitalization, and strong family support helped her begin to heal.
Today I will share the start of my interview with Isabelle. It is a powerful piece that could serve as a good starting point for an important conversation with teens in your life.
Please also know the our conversation includes discussion of eating disorders, body image, and related experiences, so please read or listen with care. And if you or someone you love is affected by these issues you’ll find a list of support resources below.
What is wonderful is that we hear not only from Isabelle but also from her parents and how things changed for Isabelle, who was starting college when I interviewed her.
So here is part of our conversation, which starts with Isabelle talking about when the exercise and eating disorder, beginning when she was in 8th grade.
Many adults keep their phones by the bed — it feels harmless, even necessary. But what if that habit is quietly affecting our sleep and the example we set for our kids? In this week’s blog, Dr. Ruston shares two key things every parent should know about sleeping next to a phone, and how small nighttime tech changes can make a big difference for the whole family.
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From Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto to violence and gunfire in movies and shows, aggression is a constant backdrop in boys’ media diets. And with various influencers and online personalities framing success through the lens of strength, competition, dominance and winning, boys are being handed a narrow script for masculinity. As parents, one of the most important things we can do is offer a counterweight. We can help boys strengthen empathy, compassion, and respect as core traits of masculinity, so they have a broader, healthier vision of who they can become.
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Last week we introduced you to our Screen-Free Sleep campaign! Since then, we’ve been flooded with emails and calls, and most are asking the same question: How can we get this spreading in our school? Today’s blog has the answers.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
