On social media such as Tiktok, there is a plethora of clips of the murder, which was filmed from several angles. For those who watch TV or read newspapers on the internet, the worst scenes are censored. No such control is noticeable in social media.
Especially for children, it can be traumatic, says Björn Tingberg, psychotherapist with a focus on children and young people and active at Ericastiftelsen.
One can of course be affected by a feeling of discomfort from seeing it in real time. One becomes scared, gets anxiety. It creates existential questions that can be intrusive, he says.
It can be worsened by the fact that most people see such clips when they are alone.
One can also imagine a feeling of abandonment. That one is alone in the problem.
Important to talk to children
So, what can one do?
As a young person, you should talk about the worry you feel with a parent or adult. One can also try to limit the flow in one's apps and not sit alone and watch such material.
The one who is a parent should try to keep track of what one's child is doing on the internet and ask what site they are on. But also talk to the children about what they have seen and what they feel.
So that it does not become a feeling that they stand alone in it, says Tingberg.
All people tend to fill in themselves with what they do not get to know – but especially children and young people. Adults who have lived longer have an advantage and can understand contexts in a different way, he says.
A young person at the beginning of life does not have all that knowledge. The gaps are easily filled in with one's own material that builds on fantasies and what one has experienced oneself.
Can create desensitization
In recent years, unpleasant clips from war and crisis zones such as Ukraine and Gaza have spread widely in social media.
Björn Tingberg says that it seems to have affected the faith in the future negatively in some young people. Another potential effect of being exposed to such material is psychological desensitization.
Sometimes I think that the boundaries for violent acts are moved to something that almost becomes normal. That it is terrible with all the bombings and shootings – but that it is what we have. I do not think that is good.
