By Rebecca Ruiz, Photo: Bloomberg, Mashable, March 2, 2022
Without warning, there it was in my Twitter feed: video of a Russian missile exploding a Ukrainian administrative building in Kharkiv. Minutes earlier, I'd seen footage of Ukrainians rushing to flee the country's capital via train. The reporter's caption was more haunting than the imagery: "A mother was just briefly separated from her child on the platform and her scream was something I'm not sure I can find words to describe."
This is what an invasion looks like when it unfolds on social media. It can be overwhelming. Research also tells us that media exposure to these scenes can lead to anxiety, acute stress, and post-traumatic stress symptoms ā all reasons to consider watching fewer of them while finding other ways to stay informed about the conflict.
Otherwise, visceral dispatches from the frontlines arrive instantaneously, delivering chaos and violence, regardless of whether we're prepared to cope with what we witness. Algorithms take cues from who we've followed and what content we've lingered on. Something incomprehensible unravels before us in disorienting fashion. Satellite imagery depicts a Russian convoy headed to Kyiv that stretches 40 miles. An expert casts the conflict as World War III. Another predicts the "heinous" things Russian president Vladimir Putin will do to prevail. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a former comedian and actor, grimly stares at a camera and declares: "Nobody is going to break us."
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