The year was 2014. A new social media site had taken the internet by storm—Tumblr. It was different from any other social media sites because of how community-oriented it was. You could meet new people, make many friends, and find communities of people who shared similar interests as you. Not all were positive, though. Anorexia was one of the most popular topics on the site, where users would often describe the disorder as an “aesthetic”, sharing constant updates on their weight and body goals, and even going as far as providing tips to keep up the eating disorder.

But 2014 is long gone, and the kids who grew up on the internet have entered the real world. One of them is Lakshita Shivhare, a 20-year-old currently in her third year at St Xavier’s College, Mumbai. Hailing from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, Shivhare lives under no parental supervision here in Mumbai, with no one to check on when and how she has her meals. “In my first year of college, I gained around 10 kg. It was all healthy because I was exercising, having three meals a day. But suddenly, jeans that I’d had from the seventh grade wouldn’t fit me anymore,” she says. “I was used to getting a lot of attention in school, and that changed in college. I think subconsciously, I started correlating my physical appearance to my social status.”