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There seems to be a corner of the internet for everything. Many of these corners have existed almost as long as the Internet itself has been around but feel new as they adapt with the ever-changing landscape of social media. They fade out for a bit and seemingly resurface out of nowhere.
One such example of this phenomena is the continuity of online spaces dedicated to the promotion and glamorization of self-harm, eating disorders and suicidality online.
It is jarring to anyone older than a millennial and younger Generation Z to first stumble upon these places. However, I think a lot of older Gen Z may recognize this from long, long ago.
Pro self-injury and eating disorder content had its advent in the early 2000s on stand-alone blogging platforms that popped up online. Eventually the content made its way to microblogging platform Tumblr, founded in 2007. It took the website five years to “ban” content related to self injury and eating disorders, which remains highly conspicuous on the website to this day.
As Tumblr has faded out of the mainstream, this content became displaced. As it returned to the mainstream, it has thrived on one social media platform above the rest. Perhaps it's the sheer popularity of the app, perhaps it’s the endless-by-design algorithm or its history for censoring harmless content while allowing disturbing content to stay up.
Regardless, it seems the same content that found a home on Tumblr in the earlier days of the internet is growing quite comfortable on TikTok. What is staggering here, however, is the difference in size of the audience Tumblr once had and the audience that continues to grow on TikTok. TikTok’s audience is much larger than Tumblr’s and continues to grow.
A couple years ago, it seemed like the communities that overtly romanticize such harmful behaviors were well on their way out. For example, Instagram doubled down on policies surrounding graphic images of self injury in 2019.
However, many things have changed since 2019 that I believe played a subtle but imperative role in the return of this type of content in a comparatively prevalent way in comparison to the Tumblr days.
There has been a growing sense of fatalism in young people as a direct response to where the world around them is headed. I would argue that the social climate of the world at large has more to do with how young people behave on the internet than anyone realizes. Today's young people have grown up in an era of mass shootings, climate change, viral illness and an increasingly high cost of living. It would be difficult for that norm to not interfere in how you view the world–all of these things threaten the body.
Now, mix this sense of fatalism with a notoriously under-regulated app. We are simultaneously being sold skincare routines and semi-automatic rifles. People in power who are supposed to keep us safe have failed to do so repeatedly. Testimonies of women being forced to carry fetuses deemed not compatible with life are going viral. Footage of shootings hit TikTok before they hit the news. It’s really not much of a shock that we are witnessing the revival of something so harmful.
Megan Diehl is a sophomore studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Megan? Email her md396520@ohio.edu.
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