I'm talking about 11-year-olds to 17-year-olds. They will articulate that quite clearly.
My project is focused on social media, but at the same time I think it's important to recognize that social media provides a snapshot of teen life that we wouldn't necessarily be able to see without social media because it has a public-private aspect to it. But I don't think these are problems that exist on social media only. I think social media gives us a good way of trying to understand the way the commercialization of childhood is affecting young people, both online and offline.
Clearly, kids will say there is no difference. It's all one big social space. They don't see it as a brave new world; it's just the world they're in.
Having said that, I want to second the idea that there's a body image spectrum we're talking about. One of the reasons that media images are relevant to this discussion when you're trying to help people who are suffering from this illness—and it is an illness—is that they can act as triggers. They can silence kids. It makes it harder for people to say they are having this problem, because they're getting all of this feedback saying that being skinny is something girls in particular should pursue, and that type of thing.
I think there is an interrelationship. It's not that girls have bad body image and they become anorexic. I think that's far too simplistic. What I'm trying to say is that particularly for the most vulnerable in our society, girls who are suffering from this particular illness, these are triggers, and we have a responsibility to deal with them. We also have the broader mental and social health of girls as a whole to consider.