Impact Ambivalence: How People with Eating Disorders Get Trapped in the Perpetual Cycle of Digital Food Content Engagement

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Choi, Ryuhaerang, Park, Subin, Han, Sujin, Kim, Jennifer G., Lee, Sung-Ju
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Choi, Ryuhaerang
Park, Subin
Han, Sujin
Kim, Jennifer G.
Lee, Sung-Ju
author_facet Choi, Ryuhaerang
Park, Subin
Han, Sujin
Kim, Jennifer G.
Lee, Sung-Ju
contents Digital food content could impact viewers' dietary health, with individuals with eating disorders being particularly sensitive to it. However, a comprehensive understanding of why and how these individuals interact with such content is lacking. To fill this void, we conducted exploratory (N=23) and in-depth studies (N=22) with individuals with eating disorders to understand their motivations and practices of consuming digital food content. We reveal that participants engaged with digital food content for both disorder-driven and recovery-supporting motivations, leading to conflicting outcomes. This impact ambivalence, the coexistence of recovery-supporting benefits and disorder-exacerbating risks, sustained a cycle of quitting, prompted by awareness of harm, and returning, motivated by anticipated benefits. We interpret these dynamics within dual systems theory and highlight how recognizing such ambivalence can inform the design of interventions that foster healthier digital food content engagement and mitigate post-engagement harmful effects.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2311_05920
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Impact Ambivalence: How People with Eating Disorders Get Trapped in the Perpetual Cycle of Digital Food Content Engagement
Choi, Ryuhaerang
Park, Subin
Han, Sujin
Kim, Jennifer G.
Lee, Sung-Ju
Human-Computer Interaction
Computers and Society
Multimedia
Digital food content could impact viewers' dietary health, with individuals with eating disorders being particularly sensitive to it. However, a comprehensive understanding of why and how these individuals interact with such content is lacking. To fill this void, we conducted exploratory (N=23) and in-depth studies (N=22) with individuals with eating disorders to understand their motivations and practices of consuming digital food content. We reveal that participants engaged with digital food content for both disorder-driven and recovery-supporting motivations, leading to conflicting outcomes. This impact ambivalence, the coexistence of recovery-supporting benefits and disorder-exacerbating risks, sustained a cycle of quitting, prompted by awareness of harm, and returning, motivated by anticipated benefits. We interpret these dynamics within dual systems theory and highlight how recognizing such ambivalence can inform the design of interventions that foster healthier digital food content engagement and mitigate post-engagement harmful effects.
title Impact Ambivalence: How People with Eating Disorders Get Trapped in the Perpetual Cycle of Digital Food Content Engagement
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Computers and Society
Multimedia
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.05920