The Dark Side Of Food Diary Videos

Some start with an attractive person speaking directly to viewers, others with a shot of various types of food, sometimes to a soundtrack of video game music.

- Elizabeth Law

Cue the supposed "food diary" of the attractive content creator, described through a series of shots of what he or she consumes in a day, usually in quick succession with aesthetically pleasing cuts.

In this TikTok trend, creators take multiple selfies of themselves having different bites of food throughout the day, which are then stitched together in a loose narrative.

To the regular internet user, this sub-genre of diet videos, known as "What I Eat In A Day", may look like any of the millions of videos to do with food and eating common across social media.

But they can have a damaging effect in subtle ways on some viewers, especially those wrestling with body image issues, say experts.

These videos are part of a "broad, nebulously defined grey area of thin ideal content", which showcases food and diets while broadcasting a desired standard of thinness, says Associate Professor Scott Griffiths from the University of Melbourne's School of Psychological Sciences.

While they do not explicitly violate content guidelines on social media platforms, such videos can encourage negative social comparisons and create unrealistic expectations, according to a study by the university and a data analysis by The Straits Times.

Our analysis found that the videos use editing techniques and soundtracks that draw in viewers - and TikTok's algorithm pushes such content heavily to those who linger on them.

In this way, TikTok's particular method of engaging users contributes to making those who are vulnerable, like those suffering or recovering from eating disorders, even more so, said experts.

Prof Griffiths, who specialises in the psychology of body image issues, has research which showed that TikTok users with eating disorders were over 40 times more likely to receive a video that promotes eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia than someone who did not have an eating disorder.