CNN: Memes lead to teenage obesity, lawmakers told

[China]

Memes lead to teenage obesity, lawmakers told

 

It's been a bad few weeks for memes.

 

In mid-September the European Parliament passed a new copyright law that some have dubbed a "meme ban."

Then Sweden's advertising watchdog ruled that the popular "distracted boyfriend" meme is sexist.

Now, academics have told British lawmakers that internet memes may be contributing to the UK obesity crisis and doing harm to teenagers on a significant scale.

Memes carry dangerous health-related messages and make light of unhealthy eating habits, researchers from Loughborough University wrote in a letter sent to a British parliamentary committee.

"A substantial number of individuals on Twitter share health-related Internet memes, with both positive and negative messages," they wrote, noting that many "contain inappropriate material."

 

 

A picture of an overweight child with the caption "Free food? Count me in!" was sent along with the letter as an example of a meme the researchers found dangerous.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Springfield]

Jesus people are dumb.

[Larry]

4 minutes ago, Springfield said:

Jesus people are dumb.

 

Observing that it is impossible to tell to which group of people your post refers 

 

Which emphasizes how correct it is. 

[PleaseBlitz]

[TradeTheBeal!]

[China]

[Destino]

Anyone read the letter?  It’s really something.  This letter reads like a group seeking funding to actively monitor (and there’s an implied need for censorship) of all social media who are using the obesity issue only as a way to get their foot in the door.  Read the letter and see how strongly they focus on unhealthy lifestyles initially before quickly pivoting to online bullying via the following bizarre logic:

 

“Furthermore, in ridiculing body shape, diet and fitness there is a worry that we are also normalising obesity, poor diet and sedentary behaviour.”

 

I’m going to need an academic to hold my hand and explain to me in simple terms exactly how social animus, directed at those perceived to be out of shape due to poor diet and fitness, is actually normalizing obesity, poor diet, and sedentary behavior.  This isn’t to say mocking anyone is good, what I’m questioning is the specific pathway that they’ve built from the obesity crisis (the stated problem at the start of this letter) to mean memes.

 

They end the letter with this

 

Quote

With the prevalence of social media as a source of health knowledge among young people, and indications that Internet memes may be playing a part in a general apathy towards behaviours that ridicule individuals and groups who display “non-normative", "fat", "unhealthy", "irresponsible", "at fault" characteristics, the risks that this poses to future generations and our youth are noteworthy. This kind of social media content has largely gone unnoticed, and its effects, impact, prevalence and virality are, at best, poorly understood. It is hence important to investigate this area and seek to impact on social policy initiatives (such as those that emerge from this inquiry) as the potential impact of Internet meme appears to be harmful and yet this harm is hidden in images and text. If an Internet memes is “a piece of culture [...] which gains influence through online transmission” (Davison, 2012, p.122) then we need to be increasingly mindful of the type of culture we wish young people to see, read and believe. We have it in our gift to make the world a better place but only, in this case, if we challenge undesirable behaviours such as trolling, body shaming and bullying that seem inherent in many Internet memes.

 

Emphasis added.

[Springfield]

1 hour ago, Larry said:

 

Observing that it is impossible to tell to which group of people your post refers 

 

Which emphasizes how correct it is. 

 

I don’t know if I should be offended or proud

[China]

[Larry]

[Llevron]

Well this sucks. 

[China]

[TheGreatBuzz]

56 minutes ago, Destino said:

Anyone read the letter?  It’s really something.

Hold on, you actually read the stuff before making fun of people and posting awesome memes?  That's now how things work around here!

[China]

[Riggo-toni]

[China]

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

[PeterMP]

14 hours ago, Destino said:

Anyone read the letter?  It’s really something.  This letter reads like a group seeking funding to actively monitor (and there’s an implied need for censorship) of all social media who are using the obesity issue only as a way to get their foot in the door.  Read the letter and see how strongly they focus on unhealthy lifestyles initially before quickly pivoting to online bullying via the following bizarre logic:

 

“Furthermore, in ridiculing body shape, diet and fitness there is a worry that we are also normalising obesity, poor diet and sedentary behaviour.”

 

I’m going to need an academic to hold my hand and explain to me in simple terms exactly how social animus, directed at those perceived to be out of shape due to poor diet and fitness, is actually normalizing obesity, poor diet, and sedentary behavior.  This isn’t to say mocking anyone is good, what I’m questioning is the specific pathway that they’ve built from the obesity crisis (the stated problem at the start of this letter) to mean memes.

 

They end the letter with this

 

 

Emphasis added.

 

Obesity for many people is really a mental health issue and things like stress make it worse and bringing it up in a shaming way adds to shame and stress and actually leads to over eating.

 

You've heard of stress eating?

 

It is also heavily tied to things like social awkwardness (and related stress) so doing things to socially ostracize them doesn't help in general.

 

https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/everything-you-know-about-obesity-is-wrong/

 

(Look at alcoholism.  Shaming alcoholics does not work.  Supporting alcoholics in supportive largely no blame/judgement support groups/therapy (e.g. AA) does.)

[Riggo-toni]

[DogofWar1]

Excuse me everyone please stop posting memes memes are illegal.

 

The FBI will be notified of your activities and will come retrieve you for your illicit activities.

[PeterMP]

For people that are obese, it is really best to think about it as an addiction.  The body/brain really change, and there is good evidence that if somebody that was obese loses the weight, their body/brain does not completely change even years later.

 

Shame, in general (for some people), might be good at preventing behaviors (e.g. shame MIGHT be good at keeping some young people from over eating and becoming obese), but for most people suffering from any sort of addiction, shame is not helpful in terms of recovering and only exacerbates problems.

[Destino]

24 minutes ago, PeterMP said:

 

Obesity for many people is really a mental health issue and things like stress make it worse and bringing it up in a shaming way adds to shame and stress and actually leads to over eating.

 

You've heard of stress eating?

 

It is also heavily tied to things like social awkwardness (and related stress) so doing things to socially ostracize them doesn't help in general.

 

https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/everything-you-know-about-obesity-is-wrong/

 

(Look at alcoholism.  Shaming alcoholics does not work.  Supporting alcoholics in supportive largely no blame/judgement support groups/therapy (e.g. AA) does.)

Childhood obesity, which is what they’re pretending to address, is not “really” mental health.  It’s a problem with adults responsible for them not providing proper diet and imparting healthy lifestyles.  It sure as hell isnt alcoholism, and none of this is “normalizing”, what you’re discussing is effective means of treatment.  

[PeterMP]

7 minutes ago, Destino said:

Childhood obesity, which is what they’re pretending to address, is not “really” mental health.  It’s a problem with adults responsible for them not providing proper diet and imparting healthy lifestyles.  It sure as hell isnt alcoholism, and none of this is “normalizing”, what we’re discussing is effective means of treatment.  

 

Well, they are talking about teenagers.  Most teenagers make many of their own food choices.  And certainly issues like stress and social interactions drive a lot of teenage behaviors.  There's a theory that addiction itself is largely driven by social stress started in teenage years by teenagers that don't know how to cope with it in general.

 

And I don't think anybody in child development would suggest that completely policing your teenagers eating habits would a healthy thing to do in terms of raising self-reliant adults or maintaining a healthy relationship with your teenager.  Teenagers need to learn to make their own choices and food choices is a pretty basic baseline to start.

 

There's no doubt that in many cases, they've learned some bad habits from their parents, but that doesn't change the underlying issue.

 

I don't really know about the normalization aspect of it, but it isn't hard to see that in general fat memes probably aren't helping the obese.

[PeterMP]

@Destino

 

I think you misunderstand their concern about normalization and what is being normalized.

 

"Memes have the potential to normalise undesirable behaviours such as trolling, body shaming and bullying, and a lack of emotion may be indicative of a larger apathy with regards to such practice."

 

Fat shaming memes maybe normalizing fat shaming.  That seems relatively straight forward.  People share memes with ideas they would not communicate directly with somebody, but in doing it they are making the behavior more normal.

 

Fat shaming, in general, does not help obese people.  From that sentence, they do not appear to be saying that fat memes are normalizing obesity itself.

 

 

[Destino]

16 minutes ago, PeterMP said:

Well, they are talking about teenagers.  Most teenagers make many of their own food choices.

 

And I don't think anybody in child development would suggest that completely policing your teenagers eating habits would a healthy thing to do in terms of raising self-reliant adults or maintaining a healthy relationship with your teenager.  Teenagers need to learn to make their own choices and food choices is a pretty basic baseline to start.

 

Exactly how does allowing teens to repeatedly make poor choices to the point of obesity teach them to make their own choices?  I’m unfamiliar with this method of instruction.  Sounds like allowing someone to learn how to drive on their own and standing by while they slam into things because on the hope that they’ll survive long enough to become self reliant.  

 

Teaching is demonstrating and holding people to the right way of doing things until they show they can do it on their own.  Let’s be honest, teenagers don’t do the grocery shopping and don’t choose the breakfast and dinner menu in their own homes.  Hands off parenting is probably easier though, who wants to argue about unhealthy junk food all the time?  Easier to just buy the snack food. 

 

Every kid is different, some may be able to choose their own food at 7 years old, others need more instruction further into life.  It’s up to adults to see what’s necessary and provide it.

 

 

8 minutes ago, PeterMP said:

@Destino

 

I think you misunderstand their concern about normalization and what is being normalized.

 

"Memes have the potential to normalise undesirable behaviours such as trolling, body shaming and bullying, and a lack of emotion may be indicative of a larger apathy with regards to such practice."

 

Fat shaming memes maybe normalizing fat shaming.  That seems relatively straight forward.  People share memes with ideas they would not communicate directly with somebody, but in doing it they are making the behavior more normal.

 

Fat shaming, in general, does not help obese people.  From that sentence, they do not appear to be saying that fat memes are normalizing obesity itself.

 

 

“Furthermore, in ridiculing body shape, diet and fitness there is a worry that we are also normalising obesity, poor diet and sedentary behaviour.”