The Internet Cult We Shouldn’t Be Ignoring

Deep in the jungle of the X app, buried beneath K-pop fan accounts and politicians pretending to be hip, lies a dark corner of the internet that many parents have never heard of. Yet, their tween and teen girls are totally immersed in it. It’s a cult that calls itself “ED Twitter” – Eating Disorder Twitter.

Trigger warning: Mentions of anorexia, bulimia, and self-harm.

Contrary to the kindest assumption you could make about this name, ED Twitter is not a rehabilitation community. It’s not a place where girls wracked with body image issues can find healing together from their poor self-perception and destructive behavior. Rather, it’s a cliquey cabal of codependents who use each other to validate their own eating disorders and enable each other into the deepest pits of their illnesses. 

The Terrifying Psychology of ED Twitter

Users of ED Twitter identify one another by placing the acronym “edtwt” in their online bio or display name, allowing them to build an audience of similarly anorexic or bulimic followers. A July 2023 tweet from since-suspended user @proseforpretty summarizes the philosophy of this online world so well that it might as well be the ED Twitter mission statement: “eating will not make u happy. don’t stress eat, stress starve. if ur gonna be sad, at least be pretty and sad.”

As of July 2023, @proseforpretty had over 2,000 followers, and this tweet had over 19,000 views. Another now-suspended user, @evecalz, amassed over 70,000 views on a thread detailing “reasons to starve,” including things like “clear jealousy from others”  and “fit into kids size clothes.” A quick scroll through the tag “edtwt” will produce many more users and tweets just like this. There are other tags this community uses to find each other too, such as “anatwt” (anorexia Twitter), “starvespo” (starving inspo), “thinspo” (thin inspo: images of frail, skeletal bodies meant to serve as motivation to continue starving), and “fatspo” (fat inspo: images of overweight bodies meant to frighten/disgust someone into continuing to starve).

The majority of users on ED Twitter are clearly young, as evidenced by their internet-stylized grammar and frequent complaints about parents or siblings. While these girls are usually suffering discreetly in their real lives, the anonymity that these accounts give them – as well as the sense of camaraderie they feel – sparks an unabashedly honest discourse that might never be achieved with a parent or a counselor. There’s less pressure to say the right thing or not go too far when your audience is made up of your peers. 

User @sk1nn1heart writes about hiding bulimia from her mother: “telling my mom I won’t take lax tonight knowing damn well i’m gonna take 10”; @honey_edtwt expresses a feeling of euphoria when hungry: “I love love love the feeling of my stomach rumbling”; @scozcool confesses to finding satisfaction in comparing her eating habits to her sister’s: “My sister doesn’t know that we’re in a secret competition to see who consumes the least amount of cals in a day.”

If you’ve ever struggled with or watched a loved one struggle with an eating disorder, the thought processes of these girls will be very familiar to you. According to the April Lyons Psychotherapy Group, eating disorders are “a deadly competition” in which “nothing is more triggering than being around your ‘competitors.’” It’s no shock, then, that when girls who are already struggling to live in their bodies collide in the same virtual space, their self-image becomes worse, not better.

The most horrifyingly enlightening account on ED Twitter is @edtwtconfessing, a page that posts confessions submitted by other users. Submissions typically take the form of vents, detailing how someone developed an eating disorder or the ways in which their disorder has affected their lives. In many of these confessions, it becomes clear that the anorexia and/or bulimia experienced by ED Twitter users is triggered externally, whether it’s a boyfriend motivating them to restrict their food intake or an abuser driving them to starvation as a form of self-harm. One 11-year-old child even admits to seeking out pornography featuring thin women so she can use their images as “thinspo.” 

A scroll through this account also makes evident how isolated and ashamed these girls feel as a result of their eating disorders. One 15-year-old bulimic confesses to hiding a vomit-filled suitcase from her family for a week to avoid being “caught” in the act of purging. Another 17 year old says that their internal organs have been damaged as a result of laxative abuse, but doesn’t seem to be seeking medical attention. 

When looking at ED Twitter from the outside, it can be easy to judge these girls as shallow or vapid, but their stories reveal that their eating disorders are often only one symptom of a greater psychological burden. We’ve all heard about the modern mental health crisis, but to see the personal testimonies of those affected by it makes the tragedy all too real.

How Do We Help?

Not everyone who struggles with anorexia or bulimia is on ED Twitter, but they’re likely dealing with the same symptoms as those who are. It’s not only girls who are susceptible, either. Although women make up 90% of Americans with an eating disorder, men and boys also make up a small minority of those affected. As ED Twitter’s confession page shows us, you may not know that a close friend or family member is struggling if they hide it well. 

According to the Center for Change, providing a functioning support system is crucial to helping someone with an eating disorder find their way to recovery – a real support system, not the echo chamber that ED Twitter has created for itself. Most of these users know that they’re sick, and they need help finding the courage to pursue treatment. Unfortunately, talking honestly about eating disorders is still taboo to many people. Some don’t even recognize these disorders as actual mental illnesses, and as a result, don’t see why someone struggling would need to seek help instead of just “getting over it.” What happens when a young girl who’s barraged by negative body messaging develops an eating disorder while living in a house where no one would take her seriously if she asked for help?

We need to promote an open and honest dialogue around eating disorders – one that doesn’t shame those who are struggling, while also not enabling them to continue harming themselves. We also need to set good examples ourselves, refraining from pushing our own harmful ideas about body image onto the young and impressionable (no more almond moms, please). An eating disorder is “all in someone’s head” until it ends up killing them. These are difficult conversations to have, but if we don’t have them today, we’ll be having them at funerals.

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