What Is Body Checking? Why Parents Should Be Concerned

Body checking is a term that should raise red flags for parents. It’s a behavior rooted in disordered eating behaviors and negative body image, especially among teens. 

This article covers what body checking means, how it shows up both online and offline, why social media has accelerated the trend, and what parents should do if they’re concerned about their child.

What is body checking?

Body checking is when a person frequently and repeatedly checks their size, shape, weight, and body composition. This can include behaviors like checking themselves in a mirror, pinching body fat, weighing oneself obsessively, or comparing specific body parts to others. 

While occasional curiosity about one’s appearance is normal, frequent or compulsive body checking is not. Body-checking behavior has surged in recent years, due in large part to social media. 

This surge is driven largely by social media trends, coded hashtags, and viral challenges that disguise harmful behaviors as fitness, self-improvement, or relatable content.

Why body checking is harmful for teens

It can be easy to dismiss body checking as harmless, but here’s why you should be concerned: 

1. Associated with disordered eating. Body checking can be both a symptom of and a contributing factor in eating disorders. 
2. Contributes to negative self-esteem. Body checking is associated with negative emotional and cognitive outcomes. 
3. It’s about more than the body. On its face, body checking is all about a person’s physical appearance, but it’s actually rooted in deeply entrenched thoughts and beliefs, such as a person’s anxious response to body image fears and not looking “good” enough. 
4. It’s a vicious cycle. The “data” collected from body checking usually doesn’t satisfy a person’s insecurities and need for reassurance, so they get stuck in a cycle of compulsive behaviors. 

Warning signs your child may be body checking

Here are eight body-checking behaviors to be on the lookout for in your child: 

1. Intensely and repeatedly scrutinizing their body.
2. Frequently checking their appearance in the mirror. 
3. Spending a lot of time thinking or talking about their body. 
4. Researching ways to “improve” their body. 
5. Flesh pinching.
6. Compulsive weighing. 
7. Body part measuring. 
8. Feeling for their bones or muscles. 
9. Following body-checking related hashtags or trends on social media. 

Body checking on social media

Social media is a significant contributing factor in the development of eating disorders in many adolescents. Body-checking is one of the ways negative body image and disordered eating play out online.

Social media companies have attempted to respond by banning associated hashtags like #bodychecking, #fitspo, and #skinnytok. Users have found ways around the filters, though, by using code words or disguising them inside challenges and trends.  

Body-checking code words

Here are some common body-checking code words:

1. #thinśpø
2. #thinspho
3. #jawlinecheck 
4. #smallwaist
5. #sideprofile

Body-checking challenges and trends

The light tone of many TikTok videos can mask the body checking hiding beneath, like these four challenges and viral trends:

1. Hip walk challenge
2. Wrist test 
3. Sunglasses challenge
4. Posed versus reality comparison videos 

How to talk to your child about body checking

Parents play a vital role in combating the negative messages kids receive about their bodies and disordered eating. Here are some tips on how to talk to your child about body checking: 

1. Arm them with information. Knowledge is power. If your child understands what body checking is and the many subtle ways it shows up on social media, they’ll be better equipped to recognize and reject it when it comes across their feed. 
2. Emphasize the sneaky impact of body-checking content. Explain to your child that a single video may not seem harmful, but the more they watch body-checking videos over time, the more likely they are to internalize the unhealthy messages. 
3. Lead by example. What you do is just as important as what you say. Keep an eye out for body-checking behavior in yourself and, if you recognize it, work to stop it or, at the very least, avoid doing it around your child.  

How BrightCanary can help

BrightCanary can help you ensure your child isn’t falling down the social media rabbit hole of body-checking content. The monitoring app scans everything your child types and sends you an alert if it detects online activity related to body checking or disordered eating, as well as other red flags. 

AI-powered summaries provide additional insight into their online activity, and you always have access to full transcripts if you need more information. It’s a simple way to stay informed about what your child taps and searches on iOS devices.

When to get professional support

If you’re worried about your child’s body checking or if you suspect they may have an eating disorder, it’s a good idea to seek professional help. Here are ways to get support: 

1. Talk to your child’s doctor. Your pediatrician or family doctor can help or can point you in the direction of a specialist.
2. School psychologist or social worker. Mental health professionals working in your child’s school are a great resource.
3. Families Empowered and Supporting Treatment of Eating Disorders (F.E.A.S.T.) is an excellent online resource for caregivers supporting a child with an eating disorder. 

In short

Body checking is a term rooted in disordered eating. Parents need to be on the lookout for signs of body checking, such as compulsive weighing, measuring body parts, and following body-checking content on social media. 

BrightCanary can help you supervise your child’s social media use and show you what they're searching for, messaging, and commenting on, including body checking. The app’s advanced technology monitors what your child types, alerting you when they encounter something concerning. Try it today.