Violent events now reach audiences instantly and repeatedly through mobile media, often without consent or context. RMIT experts examine how this reshapes emotional wellbeing and why digital grief literacy is critical to protecting audiences from cumulative psychological harm.
Co-authors Larissa Hjorth and Katrin Gerber
Key points:
- Digital exposure to real-world violence can trigger psychological stress
Viewing videos of violent enforcement actions, even indirectly, activates a stress response in the brain similar to direct exposure, increasing anxiety, fear and emotional exhaustion among viewers.
- Repeated or continuous viewing compounds mental health impacts
Social media algorithms can expose people to distressing footage repeatedly and without warning, which deepens emotional distress and may lead to secondary trauma or intrusive thoughts.
- Collective witnessing reshapes grief and political emotion
Researchers argue that the boundary between first-hand witness and online audience is collapsing; audiences are not just informed but implicated in the affective experience of political violence, requiring new forms of "digital grief literacy".
- There is a social dimension to processing violent media
Responses to footage vary widely, from avoidance and overload through to engagement in activism or community dialogue, highlighting the need to balance awareness and wellbeing.
- Public conversations are necessary to manage societal impacts
Beyond individual coping, meaningful public discourse is essential to help communities understand how mediated violence affects collective sense-making, mourning and civic engagement.
