On March third, at 2:57 AM, police responded to a call about an accident involving a pedestrian at the crossing of Cicero Road and Field Drive. The pedestrian was later identified as John Finch, a 52 year old Noblesville resident, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Just hours later, photos of his dead body were plastered across social media.

     The constant stream of violent and upsetting imagery on the internet is not a new phenomenon to society. However, its impacts are becoming increasingly prevalent in how people view tragedies such as the death of John Finch. Within mere hours of his death, photos of his corpse were spread far and wide on social media, in particular Snapchat. Over and over again, users screenshotted and reposted the image depicting the death of a real man.

     The idea that people could so nonchalantly spread the image of someone’s brutal death, and even laugh about it is, quite frankly, scary. People should never become so used to witnessing violence that they become desensitized to it, but that is exactly what’s happening today.

     Penn State University states that “For many, scrolling through their feed and seeing violent media wouldn’t really insight a reaction out of them or disrupt their day-to-day routine.”

     While social media in and of itself is not harmful, its effects on its users can certainly be. The implications of incidents like what happened to John Finch are extreme, and point to a larger problem within our society. These events are not isolated. Every day, violent, disturbing content is posted to social media, and its effects on the people exposed to it are undeniable.

     Beyond the physical response, where one might feel sick or anxious, the long term mental effects of continuously being exposed to violence are undeniable. According to the American Psychological Association, people who have been affected by violence in the media are often less sensitive to other’s pain, and might be more likely to show heightened amounts of aggression to others.

     This is not an isolated issue. It may seem innocuous now, but the loss of empathy and desensitization to such awful events, exemplified by the fate of John Finch, is more than just people acting in poor taste. It represents a more serious problem in society: people have become too used to seeing horrific things every single day, and it’s becoming more difficult just to feel compassion for the pain of others. Compassion and empathy is what makes people so wonderful. Without empathy, humanity is lost.