Graphic
Trauma and Meaning in Our Online Lives

Explores our growing global exposure to distressing imagery, offering science-based ways to maximize connection and minimize harm from time online.

Alexa Koenig (Author), Andrea Lampros (Author)

9781108995740, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 14 September 2023

240 pages
27 x 18 x 1.6 cm, 0.225 kg

Today, almost anyone can upload and disseminate newsworthy content online, which has radically transformed our information ecosystem. Yet this often leaves us exposed to content produced without ethical or professional guidelines. In Graphic, Alexa Koenig and Andrea Lampros examine this dynamic and share best practices for safely navigating our digital world. Drawing on the latest social science research, original interviews, and their experiences running the world's first university-based digital investigations lab, Koenig and Lampros provide practical tips for maximizing the benefits and minimizing the harms of being online. In the wake of the global pandemic, they ask: How are people processing graphic news as they spend more time online? What practices can newsrooms, social media companies, and social justice organizations put in place to protect their employees from vicarious trauma and other harms? Timely and urgent, Graphic helps us navigate the unprecedented psychological implications of the digital age.

Introduction: Taking in Trauma from Our Newsfeed
1. A Short Summary of a Long History of Graphic Witnessing
2. Images and the Brain
3. Images and Identity
4. Agency and Control
5. Community as a Protective Force
6. Meaning in our Online Lives
7. Policy and Practice: What Next? Conclusion: Lessons on Resilience from San Miguel.

Subject Areas: IT & Communications law [LNQ]