A father who lost his 15-year-old daughter to suicide after a long battle with anorexia has criticised the amount of toxic information she could easily access on Instagram.
Robb Evans’ worst nightmare came true in April 2023, when he learned that his daughter, Olivia, had taken her own life after battling anorexia for two years.
A key factor contributing to Liv’s illness was easy access to online advice on how to become a “better anorexic.”
“Instagram was the main platform I was using,” Evans told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I would be studying things like what exercises to do and ways to bypass weekly health checks to avoid hospitalization.
‘She learned she could put weights in her shoes, wear extra layers of clothing, wear more jewelry, drink a lot of water, things like that.’
The Melbourne father allowed himself just three days to grieve his loss before deciding to try to improve the prevention and treatment of eating disorders in Australia.
She joined representatives from 36 Months, including Nova radio presenter Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli and Rob Galluzzo, founder of production company FINCH, in presenting 115,000 petition signatures to the NSW Parliament in August.
Robb Evans’ 15-year-old daughter Liv (pictured together) committed suicide in April 2023 after a two-year battle with anorexia.
Mr Evans (second in photo, right, holding Liv’s ashes) brought his daughter’s urn to present to the NSW Parliament with 115,000 signatures urging the legal age for social media use to be raised to 16.
The bill aims to raise the legal age for social media use from 13 to 16, a difference of 36 months.
It has received bipartisan support in parliament, including from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and New South Wales Premier Chris Minns.
Mr Evans said bringing Liv’s ashes to parliament was keeping a promise they had made in the depths of her illness.
“She and I said we would help people with eating disorders,” she said.
I always said, “When you’re better and when you’re ready to do it, I’ll be there with you and we’ll do it together.”
“We’re doing it now, just not the way I wanted.”
Evans’ emotional account of how social media destroyed Liv’s “poor character and self-confidence” prompted the government to organise a Social Media Summit in October.
The New South Wales Government has reached out to residents to complete a survey and share their own thoughts on social media.
The consultation closes on September 8th.
Sydney and Adelaide will host the summit on 10 and 11 October respectively.
While social media was just one of the factors that contributed to Liv’s anorexia, Mr Evans believes reducing children’s access to it can only bring benefits.
“There are many different weak points because it is a terrible and complex disease. Social media is just one element,” he said.
‘Liv’s distorted view of her body was drastically shaped by what she saw on Instagram and is only getting worse with AI filters.
“If you can keep them away for longer, then maybe they’ll be able to think better and have a chance to develop some self-esteem.”
Mr Evans (left) recalled how Liv (right) learned techniques on how to become a “better anorexic” through Instagram.
The urn containing Liv’s ashes
Liv began limiting her food after being bullied at school when she was just 13 years old.
“Unfortunately, by the time she was able to explain to me what had started her eating disorder (I talk about it like a tiger), it had its claws dug so deep into her that she didn’t want to change,” Evans said.
‘It attacks the most vulnerable, especially girls.
‘For many, it’s about control. They get that through an eating disorder.
‘They can’t control everything else, but they can control how much exercise they get or whether they eat.’
Liv’s parents quickly realized that she was limiting the amount of food she ate and did everything they could to provide a “safe environment” while she worked to recover.
However, their efforts are often thwarted by false information spread online.
“He once showed me a post that said you can be healthy on 200 calories a day. That’s crazy,” Evans said.
“It is not possible to sustain life on 200 calories a day.”
Various accounts, which Liv secretly accessed, also taught her how to hide her eating disorder from her parents.
“If she ate candy or honey, she would pass the blood sugar test and she wouldn’t have to stay in the hospital any longer,” Evans said.
‘She would find ways to hide her food, such as in her clothes, and then flush it down the toilet.
‘Until recently he was still finding food in strange places in his room.’
Even when Liv took her life after 13 previous attempts, she used a method she had found on the Internet.
Liv’s parents quickly realised that she was limiting the amount of food she ate and did their best to provide a “safe environment” for her while she recovered. However, their efforts were often thwarted by false information spread on the internet (pictured: Mr Evans and Liv)
The 115,000-signature petition (pictured) submitted to the New South Wales Parliament called for the age at which children can access social media to be raised from 13 to 16.
“When you lose a child, you don’t really know what you’re going to do. We spent a lot of time together and I felt like I needed to do something,” Evans said.
‘It was three days after (Liv’s death) that I began a mission of things that would have had an impact on Liv and helped save her life.
‘What really breaks my heart is that this beautiful, delicate, loving little girl will not be known to most of the world.
‘I feel like it’s my duty as a father to show everyone who this amazing girl was and what her potential was.
“I think it would be a great shame if the world didn’t know who that person was.”
Using Liv’s story, Mr. Evans has already helped health centers receive increased funding for an in-home eating disorder recovery program and dog therapy.
“IRecently, the 36 Months team reached out to me to say, ‘Look, we’ve been following the stories of the elders and so on, and we’d like to get your support,’ Evans said.
I said I would be happy to participate because of the impact it had on Liv.
“If we could have protected her for a few more years… I mean, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
“It seems obvious that the longer we keep our children away from social media, the better it will be for them.”
Mr Evans (right) believes it is his “mission” to spread Liv’s (left) story in the hope it will help others struggling with an eating disorder.
Mr Evans added that a legal framework would help ease the pressure on both parents and children when discussing social media use.
“It’s easy to say that parents should be vigilant and all that kind of stuff, but there’s so much pressure.” ‘I ask parents to give their children access to a phone,’ he said.
‘As soon as they have that, they have access to social media and so on.
‘If we can change the law, we would eliminate that conversation.
‘What I mean is that you don’t usually have 13-year-olds pressuring their parents to give them alcohol because they know they can’t, that it’s illegal.
“It’s an easy conversation to have.”
The upcoming Social Media Summit will focus on five key concerns: the impacts of social media on the well-being of children and young people, online safety, the role of social media in disinformation and misinformation, tackling online hate and extremism, and how social media is changing the way government delivers services.
New South Wales residents can share their views on the government’s Have Your Say website until Sunday.
As part of the survey, participants are asked at what age they think people should be allowed to start using social media.
Their findings will be presented at the summit.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Meta, the owner of Instagram, for comment.