How to avoid cooking your brain on atrocity footage
A guide for people who don't want to be dumbasses
“War. War never changes.”
If you’re upset at me quoting Fallout at the start of this guide, then lighten up, Francis, because having a sense of humor is useful when learning how to deal with disturbing content online.
And I don’t mean laughing at atrocities. What I do mean is this,
People who take themselves too seriously are more likely to fall into the trap of having their brain chemistry severely altered by traumatic videos and images.
Why? Because they don’t know when to step the fuck back, realize they’re not OK, and make necessary adjustments.
I don’t have a study to cite here — but everything in my years of experience in dealing with and analyzing footage and images of war crimes has taught me this.
Thus we come to our first rule:
1. Realize your mind is fucking breakable
(I’m going to be swearing a lot throughout this guide, I do not apologize, I have had enough of stupidity in these last few years)
You can accept that your arm is breakable, right? If someone slams it into a car door you’re going to have a really bad fucking day, correct?
Please go ahead and accept the fact that your mind, your soul, whatever you want to call that which animates your body, is just as real as your arm and watching atrocity footage repeatedly is the equivalent of slamming it into a car door repeatedly.
The mental health field is populated by many quacks and cringy amateurs, but the one thing we should all be able to agree on is this: Our thoughts have a real, tangible effect on our health.
Atrocity footage affects your thoughts. This in turn affects your health. In the twenty-first century, we should be able to accept this as fact.
2. No, secondary trauma does not make you a “pussy”
I am so tired of this stupid argument.
“Watching atrocity footage is not the same thing as being there, ergo secondary trauma is not real, and if it is real, it’s for pussies.”
First of all, NOBODY IS ARGUING THAT WATCHING ATROCITY FOOTAGE IS AS BAD AS EXPERIENCING AN ATROCITY.
It’s not a fucking Olympics.
What we can and should accept is that atrocity footage does have negative effects, and that those effects should be mitigated if you’re smart. If you’re dumb, this guide isn’t for you. I’m tired of dumb people. I need them to collectively stay away from me.
Consider that we have specialists who have studied the effects of hypervigilance during the worst days of the pandemic on the human psyche. They call it “media-induced secondary trauma,” and it resulted, for example, in messed up sleep cycles in people. Messed up sleep cycles are not a good thing! Look up the cascading effects of not getting proper sleep, they are SCARY.
You ever notice how many, many people turned batshit crazy during lockdowns and we’re still feeling the effects of that today? It’s not a goddamn accident.
Covid was and is bad enough — now consider that footage of war crimes and screaming orphans is much more gruesome by comparison. If it affects you, you’re not a “pussy.” You’re just not a sociopath.
3. We didn’t deal with the effects of atrocity footage before BECAUSE THE TECHNOLOGY WASN’T THERE
Did the generations before us have it rougher? Yes, they did. I’m not here to argue about that.
But every time I hear stuff like, “this secondary trauma crap didn’t exist before, y’all are just weak” I think about the fact that decades ago, nobody had a smartphone with which they could record someone helplessly bleeding out on the battlefield and then show it to millions.
The problem is new because THE TECHNOLOGY IS NEW.
And we have to find new ways of dealing with it, it’s that simple.
4. You’re not helping anyone by cooking your brain
A bunch of loud people online would have you convinced that you’re doing “important work” if you’re sharing videos of dead children daily.
Is it important to document horror and death and despair? Yes.
But you’re NOT DOING ANYONE ANY FAVORS IF YOU DON’T APPROACH SENSITIVE FOOTAGE SENSITIVELY.
Social media has us convinced that we’re goddamn experts on everything. It has to do with ease of communication and the feeling of accomplishment that social media engagement can produce. I can tweet a clown emoji at a world-renowned cancer researcher and feel great about myself even though I’m not remotely qualified to speak on cancer research. My sense of self-satisfaction doesn’t make me an expert!
Similarly, we have many experts who repeatedly tell us that we should put limits on what we expose ourselves to, and when it comes to atrocity footage, I am qualified to speak to the effects: They can be debilitating. They can make me useless in my work, useless to my family and friends. I know that, because I’ve analyzed plenty of horrible stuff for a living.
If you care about people who are hurt and suffering, you must take steps to not burn out. A burned out you is no good to them.
Think of it as if it were a plane rule: Put the mask on yourself first before helping others. Otherwise, you pass out. Now you’re unconscious. Now you can’t help anyone.
Anyone who disagrees is a moron and is not worth your time.
5. Treat atrocity footage like a controlled substance
A small dose can have tremendous impact. Just as a powerful image can change history.
Repeatedly overdosing on this content will lead to bad outcomes.
Saw something that shocked and upset you? Redirect yourself. Put your phone down. Approach this matter cautiously, with humility.
6. Know your triggers
I hate the word “trigger,” because it’s become associated with whiny people who are extremely online.
But the truth is, certain footage and images will have a worse effect on you than other materials.
We’re all different, and we’re sensitive to different things. I watched horrific wartime autopsy footage for a job once, and it didn’t affect me nearly as badly as footage and audio of children crying. Blood and guts? Rotting bodies pulled from the street? It upsets me, but I redirect easily. A weeping child? My brain starts to short circuit.
Knowing that, and knowing myself, there are certain projects I simply don’t agree to anymore. There are situations in which I put my phone or laptop down and pet my cat and take a nice walk instead.
I’ve been called weak by people in my field for this, but I also don’t hear as much from them anymore, because I know that many of them have burned out. I’m still here, doing my thing.
Trust me as someone who has cooked her brain for a living and still does this work from time to time — understanding what makes you tick is important.
7. Set hard limits on yourself
Having rules is a good thing when approaching sensitive and disturbing content. I have reminders for wind downs at night, for example, once that little bell goes off, I know it’s time to prepare for sleep.
I may still goof around online, but I won’t engage serious topics, and I won’t reply to e-mails or do anything else that will overtax me. If I break that rule, I pay for it.
Similarly, I have automated reminders for when it’s time to meditate. Meditation can be oversold as a coping tool, but it’s a great way to practice letting bad thoughts and images float away. People think of meditation as a state of perfect nirvana and most of the time, it’s not. It’s just lying down or sitting with your eyes closed, acknowledging your thoughts, and then letting them go the way you let go of a bird in your hand.
One of the best things I did for myself after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of my native Ukraine is invest in the Calm app (nope, they’re not paying me to tell you this). It has helped me do SO much work. I put on some noise canceling headphones, crank up a meditation guide on the app, and bliss out, and it’s fantastic. And then I go and do what needs to be done. Everyone wins.
Technology may be ruining our minds but it can also help us when we use it correctly.
Let your technology help you by creating limits and guidelines for how you use it. You’ll thank me later.
8. Set hard limits on what other people send you
If you have friends or relatives who constantly send you disturbing shit, it’s OK to have a talk with them about it.
I’m not for cutting people off. I think the current trend of “drop your friend if they make you a tiny bit uncomfortable,” as espoused by rage-baiting TikTokers and other weeping boils on the body of humanity, is bad.
But it’s good to have a nice talk, face to face if you can do it, or over the phone (not text!), if someone is cooking their brain and inadvertently trying to take you down with them.
Most people mean well. They care, and they want you to care as well. Don’t talk to them from a place of anger (certainly not at first). But let them know that you need limits, and then communicate your limits.
9. Do NOT mix drinking alcohol with viewing disturbing footage
Since launching Safer Dating Now, I’ve spent countless hours explaining to people how drinking and getting on dating apps is not a good thing.
Same thing goes for drinking while viewing difficult content, or drinking after viewing difficult content.
Alcohol is a DEPRESSANT. If you’re into having a drink - as I certainly still am, though with some of those hard limits I keep banging on about - do it when you’re having a blast, not when you’re upset.
Alcohol is for goofing around with your friends at mini golf or whatever, it’s not for strapping in to watch something horrifying.
Again, YOU ARE NOT HELPING ANYONE when you damage your brain like this. I have said this in many different ways, at many different times, and I will keep saying it. Because it drives me nuts to see this preventable problem keep playing out.
10. Take extended, structured breaks
The last time I was paid to analyze a disturbing video that was extremely difficult to watch and which not so much triggered me but exploded my fusebox was last year. I haven’t taken on any similar projects after that time and I probably won’t for a bit yet. I do a ton of other work in OSINT in the meantime, which I’m more than happy with, and it’s because I’ve learned to take breaks that I can stay effective.
Social media in particular creates this mindset that if we share just one more image of a bloodied human body, a particular conflict will be stopped.
It doesn’t work like that.
Outrage is effective when it is organized. People who are suffering from severe trauma have great difficulty with staying organized. In most cases, they just alienate others.
Taking responsibility for your own level of digital hygiene (again, I hate the phrase “digital hygiene,” but no one has seen fit to come up with an alternative) is a form of claiming your agency. It’s growing up.
I’m not saying this to make you apathetic. I am saying this to make you more useful to yourself and to others.
Taking care of yourself is essential, not being a fucking dumbass is essential, and nobody who says otherwise has your best interests in mind.
We’re not going to make the glorious Normie Restoration a reality if we don’t do the work.
As always, I’m grateful to you for reading, and I’ll be extra grateful if you share this guide with others. Be good to yourselves out there.
Great post! I’ve also resorted to creating “clean” social media where I follow only certain accounts so the algorithm shows me more, say, puppies, cakes, cosplayers. It’s not a failsafe, and occasionally one of those accounts shares something, but I’ve felt my nervous system so much more at peace since creating that firewall.
Thank-you.....I agree completely.