Every day, a new trend goes viral on social media platforms. Whether it is makeup or no-oil cooking, trends across sectors influence a large number of people as they hop on the new train to make relevant reels and post on platforms with the intention of going viral. While most of these trends are harmless, some, especially related to food and diet, can be harmful when coupled with misinformation.
Many influencer dieticians, doctors, and nutritionists go viral by telling people what to eat and avoid in their everyday lives to manage common health ailments. However, they get busted when government health bodies pitch in after witnessing people harming themselves in the race to follow a trend. Similarly, ‘Fear Food Challenge’ has gone viral on TikTok, a social media platform that is banned in India. It includes people eating food items that they have been avoiding their whole lives for several reasons.
What Is The Fear Food Challenge?
According to the Indian Express, before this became a trend, the Fear Food Challenge was an exposure therapy technique to help people recover from health ailments, most commonly an eating disorder. With over 500 million views heaped up by the challenge, experts have started to worry about the health of people following the trend blindly (much like a person crossing the road without looking left or right).
This challenge is similar to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), but the only difference is no medical body or an expert is witnessing the results and guiding the person. Often people with eating disorders, which can strike at any age, are treated with it while keeping the environment modulated. However, who is modulating the experiment on social media?
What Are The Risks Of Fear Food Challenge?
Anything that sounds like an experiment is bound to be conducted in the presence of an expert. In this case, it would either be a psychiatrist or an expert on eating disorders. Since social media platforms have no expert like that, people around the world are warning against following the trend blindly. In this viral trend, it is usually one person who uploading these video without an expert supervising them.
It can be triggering for people struggling to manage their eating disorders. Even if a person is healthy, harsh comments on the video can take a toll on the mental health of the social media user. From 1 to n+1, there is no way to find out how dangerous this trend can be for people, especially without supervision. It can be hazardous to children, teenagers, and adults who are conscious about themselves and constantly question their perception, criticise themselves, and struggle to manage their sense of self-esteem.