Akancha Srivastava, a Mumbai-based cyber safety expert, hasn’t been able to sleep for the past three days, ever since Israel declared a war on Palestine on 7 October.
She didn’t realise why this was happening – she doesn’t have any personal stakes there, no one close to her are stuck there fortunately – until it occurred to her just how many graphic visuals from the war she had watched on social media.
“I’m having a tough time falling asleep and I suddenly wake up at night. My mind constantly has images of what the women and children there are going through.”Akancha Srivastava
What Srivastava is going through, isn’t new per se, during calamtic events. A 2013 study published in Psychological Science reported that “exposure to graphic media images may result in physical and psychological effects previously assumed to require direct trauma exposure.”
With war unfolding in West Asia, FIT spoke to people and experts to understand what can be done to cope with the visuals of violence that are circulating on social media.
Doomscrolling Vs Hoping For Positive News: Why Do We Watch War Videos
A lot of the videos being shared online in the past few videos have been gory and full of bloodshed. There are big building crumbling like a pack of cards, there are photos and videos of wounded children, there are visuals of hundreds running for a chance at life.
But why are we watching these videos, despite the trauma they seem to be inflicting on people. Srivastava shares that the algorithm is also at fault here.
She explains that if you’re watching a few videos on the war in a go, the social media platform’s algorithm will recognise that and push more and more videos on the topic towards you.
“As if it’s not already distressing, the misinformation and fake news adds to the anxiety,” says Srivastava.
But it’s not just that. Dr Muniya Bhattacharya, Consultant – Psychologist at Gurugram’s Marengo Asia Hospital, says that there are multiple reasons we have the urge to watch graphic visuals.
One is that some part of us hopes that there’ll be a positive news or update in some part of the visuals, says Dr Bhattacharya.
The opposite of this happens too. People "doomscroll" on social media expecting bad news, expecting the worst to happen.
But another reason can be curiousity too. Dr Shailesh Jha, Consultant Psychiatrist, Indraprastha Apollo Saarthak Mental Health Services, Delhi, says that because these are events that (fortunately) don’t happen in everyday lives, “people get curious because they’re not usual.”
“These videos of conflicts and wars are painful to watch, but there might be people who start obsessing over these. And gradually they will impact your being.”
The Health Impact Of These Videos
Dr Bhattacharya says watching graphic and violent visuals can lead to:
Palpitations
Nightmares
Anxiety
Sleeplessness
Distress
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in some people
Some people might even start visualising themselves in such situations and start wondering what if that happens to them or their close ones, adds Dr Bhattacharya.
A 1997 study, titled The Psychological Impact of Negative TV News Bulletins: The Catastrophizing of Personal Worries, said that people who watch negative news events showed a significant increase in the tendency to catastrophize a personal worry.
And now on social media, where uncensored videos (that are not editorially approved, unlike in newsrooms) can be uploaded by anyone, the mental harm is much more significant.
Boundaries & Acknowledging Stress: How You Can Cope?
To stay informed, you might not be able to cut off from the visuals or news articles entirely, but Dr Bhattacharya and Dr Jha share some ways you can cope for better mental health.
Avoid watching any graphic visuals just before sleeping and right after waking up.
Practise positive affirmations for your mind.
Fall into a routine to help yourself focus on other things.
Don’t fall into an information overload.
Make sure you’re only following verified news.
Try to help the victims in any way you can rather than focusing on the visuals emerging from the warzone.
Talk to the people around you or go for walks.
There’s another thing you can do, that Srivastava has now been following too – block specific hours of the day when you’ll log onto social media, and mute handles and words that bring up anxiety-inducing or uncensored videos.
“We can’t close our eyes to what’s happening but that does not mean we need to relive that trauma 24*7.”Akancha Srivastava
Fake News & Occupational Hazard: What Can Journalists Do?
But not everyone can limit how they consume war visuals. On 7 October, when the latest conflict began, a 24-year-old Delhi-based journalist had logged in assuming it’d be a normal weekend. But when she logged out, uneasiness and anxiety surrounded her.
“As journalists we are expected to keep our own emotions aside. Hundreds of pictures and videos went up within hours of the violence starting. When blood and dead bodies are all you see in a nine-hour shift, you tend to feel a little skirmish and it does take a toll on your mind.”
Kritika Goel, Head of Editorial Operations for Logically Facts in India, who has been a fact-checker for several years now concedes that a certain uneasiness and fatigue has taken over, which only increases during big “news events” like this Israel-Palestine.
There are times that she has had bad dreams, guilt, trouble focusing, and sometimes even been unable to read or write a few sentences. She tells FIT:
“As fact-checkers, we are required to minutely watch each and every detail to look for the tiniest clue which can help us verify these visuals. The constant interaction with these visuals may have an indirect impact on you. It may sound simple but it’s not because all you think of is the visuals you have watched and the trauma that someone has had to live through.”
For journalists and fact-checkers, the doctors suggest:
Don’t be on social media after you’re done with your work for the day.
Draw a clear boundary line between your personal time and your work hours.
And while it’s easier said than done, empathise but don’t get too involved in the story.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)