It's true that a lot of people rely on social media for health advice or diagnosis, I think it's ridiculous. I can sympathize with many people that use it as a 'first step' for researching something, or seeing a doctor, but believing you have an illness or disorder based on a short video is crazy. Attention seeking behavior 100% goes into play there, but even then, those who fake illness for attention are still a cause for concern, because not many people would do that for attention in the first place; definitely a sign they still need help..unfortunately this perception is somewhat born from people faking illnesses on social media like tiktok, where people will claim to have mental disorders like tourettes for attention, which naturally discredits real people with illnesses/disorders. however eating disorders are one of the most self diagnosable disorders, just because it is literally an eating habit, so of course you can recognise when you eat too much or too little.
social media is pushed on our generation an insane amount, tiktok or instagram or whatever which is of course a contributor due to how much we rely on these platforms for communication (especially in times like lockdown). but theres also advertisements, which are again everywhere due to the internet using them as a main source of revenue, tv, movies, etc. that was not as prevalent for other generations, whereas i guarantee you almost everyone our age either uses social media or netflix a good amount. if all you see is an idealised or cherrypicked image of humans, then naturally your perception of what you should look like changes. its not necessarily going to affect everyone the same, but definetly for many people it leads to body image issues.