The photo of a shot Peter R. de Vries. It must have been a horrific image. Shortly after the attack on the crime reporter, photos and videos were shared en masse on social media. “It’s sensationalism,” says neuropsychologist Erik Matser. “The distributors have absolutely no idea what the reactions of others might be. Can the recipient handle this?”
After the attack, the police called on to look out for the possible perpetrator, but also asked in the same tweet not to share the photo in question. On social media, many people tapped each other’s fingers and YouTube took a large number of videos offline.
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In the radio program Wake! of Omroep Brabant, Matser tries to explain the forwarding and its negative effects. “I have had people in counseling who have seen horrific beheading images from IS. We had to treat these people with EMDR to get rid of those nasty images. It was the first time that horrific images were shared en masse. about. Then it’s no longer a sensation.” EMDR is a therapy to help people get rid of the consequences of shocking experiences such as an accident or violence.
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Many internet users have no idea what you can or cannot distribute, says Matser. “If you are vulnerable to that, you will no longer lose those images. That can cause serious problems. You can no longer sleep and are tense. It is actually a mild form of PTSD. You do not get rid of the unpleasant image. Some people deal with it more easily than others. The sender has to think in advance about what he can do.”
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“Children should learn at school how to deal with the Internet in these cases,” Matser argues. “For example, which photos you can or cannot send. That is the first step. They have to realize that the intensity of certain images can make other people sick.”
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