The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

Instagramming food linked to weight issues

Instagram photo of a deli sandwich.
Instagram photo of a deli sandwich.

After waiting forever for her meal to arrive, she angles her plate perfectly, and then pulls out her phone to capture a picture for Instagram.

“Foodstagramming”, capturing picture of food for Instagram, can be seemingly an annoying gesture.

Not only that, Instagramming food has been linked to bigger issues like eating disorders and weight gain, according to an article on Huffington Post.

Yet, some students think that engaging in this social media craze does not cause issues like eating disorders.

“I take a picture for Instagram of my food all the time when I go out to eat but I’m still the same size,” Jaylen Singleton, 19, undecided major, said.

Another student agrees of the issue of “foodstagramming” is not a serious matter.

“It’s not a big deal it’s just something I do to get likes,” Grant Chandler, 22, Business major, said.

Fairly, sharing photos of food has always been common but chief of psychiatry at Women’s College Hospital at the University of Toronto , Dr. Valerie Taylor, argues that this trend is problematic.

Some students can understand the issues that can be a result of “foodstagramming”.

“I can see how constantly wanting to take pictures of food could make you gain weight,” Myles Gilbert, 21, political science major, said. “Like you’ll always want to go out to eat just to take a picture and next thing you know you’ve eaten out 5 times a week.”

While some students will agree to disagree on the consequences of “foodstagramming” other questions other forms of food pictures being in the media being a result of eating disorders.

“They [researchers] can say that Instagramming food can cause all these disorders but what about food magazines? “ Singleton said. “Most have been around longer then Instagram.”

But even with all the coming research and found issues of “foodstagramming” most students feel the gesture is not harmful and it just another way to interact online.

“Honestly though we [student] are probably going to keep Instagramming food pictures,” Gilbert said. “It’s just for social media fun.”

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