Beauty influencers on social media can be “just as toxic as Andrew Tate”, a consultant psychiatrist at Dublin’s Mater Hospital has warned. 

Professor Mathew Sadlier made the remark at Scotland’s Festival of Politics, at an event called Smartphone Free Childhood?

On Newstalk Breakfast, he explained that he constantly sees the impact of social media influencers on his patients. 

“When you’re a doctor, you deal with individuals in front of you,” he said. 

“You don’t necessarily deal society issues; when you have seen people, young girls come in to see you who have deficits with their body image. 

“When you talk to them and you go through in detail, it [is evident it’s] because they’re making social comparisons with unrealistic images that they’re seeing on the internet.” 

Andrew Tate speaks to the press. Picture by: lcv / Alamy Stock Photo.

Professor Sadlier added that Ireland "needs a societal change around these sort of things".

“We need to look at limiting the amount of time that young people spend online," he said.

"We need to look at a way of limiting the unrealistic body images, the unrealistic expectations that are being put specifically in front of our young girls. 

“There’s also unrealistic images being put in front of young boys - but that’s a slightly different conversation.” 

Hospitalisations

Professor Sadlier continued that in recent years the number of people presenting with eating disorders has increased significantly in recent years.

Between 2014/15 and 2020/21, the number of young people hospitalised in England with eating disorders jumped from 13,200 to 24,300.

The rise, he believes, is down to society's surging obsession with social media.

“We know that eating disorders and we know that body image problems are all by social comparison,” he explained. 

“In the days before the internet, most people lived in smaller communities, so the amount of people you had to compare with was relatively small. 

“Now you have the online influencers who are creating videos that are designed to be watched; the more engagement they get, the better the product placements they get. 

“Especially on platforms where advertising is not allowed [to target] children, influencers are a way around that legislation. 

“That’s going to be put very difficult genie to put back in the bottle.” 

Last year, US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy called for social media platforms to carry health warnings.

It is a policy that Professor Sadlier agrees with, suggesting it would “deter a certain amount of usage”.

Main image: A split of Andrew Tate and a beauty influencer. Pictures by: The Associated Press and Alamy.com.