How has social media desensitized young adults to violence and
pressing matters around the world?
Written for: Advanced Writing and Research
Word Count: 586
Abstract
Previous research shows that there is a correlation between a lack of empathy and violence in the news and media. Studies make the argument that the more exposed an audience is to said violence, the less they react to it, normalizing it. This hinders their ability to empathize whilst strengthening the correlation with a lack of sympathy. Using a questionnaire completed by 96 young adults (18-28) currently attending college, it was found that most people inform themselves on the news through social media, but they don’t usually do anything about it, suggesting a lack of empathy or sympathy.
Introduction
If a crime were committed in front of you, would you stop and intervene or keep walking like nothing happened? Increasingly, this question extends beyond physical spaces and transitions into the digital world, where social media has become a primary lens through which young adults witness violence and global issues. The casual environment of social media makes news seem inconspicuous or trivial. Studies have shown that empathy is significantly reduced when individuals are constantly exposed to violence. As graphic content gets more normalized on social media, sensitive subjects and news become more routine and unremarkable to the average young adult.
This report communicated the findings of a survey conducted by Brigham Young University - Idaho, showing that the highest source of news college students use is social media. These patterns help answer how social media has desensitized young adults to violence and pressing global issues. Although online communities increase awareness of worldwide problems, frequent exposure to cruelty and emotionally charged content contributes to habituation among 2 young adults, reducing meaningful engagement and emotional response. This indifference has notable consequences for society and communities, hindering neurological and emotional development, as well as shaping personal ethics and civic responsibility.
Background
A lack of empathy and concern for others is associated with emotional numbing, suggesting that exposure to media violence may impair young adults’ emotional responsiveness. A study by Vossen, Piotrowski, and Valkenburg on the longitudinal relationship between media violence and empathy researched the correlation between violence in the media like movies, TV shows, and video games, and individuals’ emotional responses and empathy levels. Three theories were formed, the correlation with affective sympathy, sharing of someone else’s emotions; cognitive empathy, understanding someone else’s emotions based on our own representations; and lastly, sympathy, concern or sorrow about distressful events in someone else’s life. The study emphasizes: “empathy is important in social interaction and moral development”.
Building on this, Scharrer argues that most news nowadays is about violence and distressing subjects. They also examine the fact that the more exposed an audience is to graphic content, the less they react to it, supporting this investigation. This perspective suggests that an initial lack of empathy in individuals may initiate a cycle of repeated exposure to violent media, ultimately leading to desensitization. These findings tie back to the research conducted for this analysis, proving that violence is frequently found in the media we consume daily.
Similarly, research by Fanti, Vanman, Henrich, and Avraamides investigated the level of empathy of individuals as well as their violent tendencies based on the number of violent scenes they’ve watched in movies and TV shows. The participants were shown scenes from movies like Fight Club, Elephant, The French Connection, and scenes from the show Friends. They filled out a questionnaire before and after watching the scenes. They reported how those scenes made them feel and whether they had watched them before. Then they filled out another questionnaire asking them to describe their most recent act of violence in detail. They were given a definition of what an act of violence is, and according to those criteria, only 5 of the total responses didn’t qualify as acts of violence. This demonstrates that recurring exposure to aggressive scenes in informal settings like movies or TV shows affects how individuals are able to identify the importance and urgency of real-world violence.
The survey conducted for this research addresses the gap of past research, where young adults and their social media habits are studied, and whether they take action on the information they are shown about news on social media. This study found that most college students find out about pressing matters about the world only through social media and rarely act upon these findings.
Methods
After receiving approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Brigham Young University–Idaho for Human Subjects Research, an online survey was distributed to 300 students currently enrolled at the university. The department randomly selected the students, and upon approval, the email list was provided by Dr. Susan Ward, Dean of Faculty Development and IRB Director. Additionally, Professor Samuel Head sent out the survey to the class of English: Advanced Writing and Research to complete.
The survey was open to responses over one week and collected data from 97 responses, yielding a response rate of approximately 32%. Participants were male and female college students in the United States, ranging from 18 to 28 years of age.
The online questionnaire consisted of seven questions in total, three of which were multiple-choice, two select all that apply, and two open-ended questions. This design encouraged honest feedback from participants. The questions asked about participants’ primary news sources, frequency of exposure to news on social media, emotional responses to news content, and whether they took any action after viewing such content.
Some ethical considerations in this research included informed consent obtained from participants and full disclosure of data collection expectations. Participants were made aware that identifying information such as name or email was not a part of the data collected. The topic was low-risk and did not involve personal or sensitive information. Responses came from students who voluntarily participated after being invited, and the procedure was kept anonymous. These details were provided in the survey invitation email and at the beginning of the survey.
Results
This study researched the level of emotional and responsive numbness as a result of high amounts of media violence consumption. One of the questions researched in this survey was: “How do you generally get informed of news around the country/world?” (see Appendix A). As shown in Figure 1, 65.6% of respondents reported social media as their primary source for news about national and global events, and 19.8% reported being informed through word of mouth.