When Charlie Kirk was assassinated most teens found out and watched the assination through social media and text. Teens often just see the isolated violent event and not the whole context of the news story.
According to the American Psychological Association, when children and teens consume violent media it can cause desensitization to tragic events, fear, and harmful action. Many people think it is best for teens to avoid consuming violence, but violence in the news makes this nearly impossible.
Violence and news can cause a multitude of mental health issues that can affect your daily life. School psychologist Kristen Segal said, “Exposure to negative violent things in the news can have a negative impact on our mental health because of the outcomes related to increasing anxiety and depression, withdrawal, even isolation.”
Exposure to violence and the media can also make devastation seem normal. Segal stated, “You can also have students who respond by becoming desensitized. It’s just a constant impression because it is happening all the time.”
While there is a choice if one watches or reads the news, violent events are constantly being covered in social media platforms. “Because everyone is so involved with social media, it’s kind of just put in everyone’s face regardless,” school social worker Shelby Hoover said.
Students can struggle with paying attention to the news and how it can negatively impact them. Junior Sarah Masrour said, “It is a lot for me to process sometimes but I think it is something I need to know, because I need to know what’s going on in the world.”
The World Press Institute states that 51% of teens in 2023 consume news in their daily lives. With headlines often covering events including violence over half of teens are exposed to tragedy on a daily basis.
The news has a vastly different impact on teens than it does adults. Segal said, “Adults on the other end of it, there’s more life experience there is more of an ability to see the bigger picture or there’s more of a tendency to be able to recognize this is a facet of your world, but it’s not the world as it is.”
In order to limit the impacts of the news Segal says that while being informed is important it is also important to have self awareness and know when you have watched a violent story too much.
