So I follow a bunch of sea/ocean inspired pages on the app. Obviously.
But now whenever I open up the app all I see are these horrific graphic gory images of the dolphins being killed on those Faroe Islands. It’s so fucking awful. I’m so overwhelmed. Maybe it’s being a mental health professional so I hear about awful stuff: Death. Loss. Tragedy. Amped up emotions all the time ? but something about the algorithm of it being thrown in my face has got me really activated … and enraged. I kept trying to unfollow and or hide the graphic content but it kept coming up !!! Not. Trauma. Informed. At. All. Granted, I’m not big on trigger warnings, I get that life doesn’t come with a trigger warning but this felt just over the top ridiculous. I had to close the app after hitting hide or that I’m not interested in those images at least three times before getting overwhelmed and giving up. And now my chest hurts.
I get it. People need to know about this. I agree. But there are other ways to do it and some of us need a break from trauma and that’s why we go to Instagram.
But there was something about this that really got me and I think it goes beyond my love for the ocean and it’s inhabitants. I get that social media can be used to raise awareness about pertinent issues, but being bombarded with tragedy lately has just gotten me really down
So yes. I’m sitting here crying because dolphins have been slaughtered on the other side of the world but also just sort of for their invasion of privacy. If I ever got murdered, I wouldn’t want my body to be a social media spectacle. There are so many other ways to raise awareness about the awful treatment of ocean life rather than showing a dolphin in blood red water as it struggles to get away from being sliced to death. I can’t get it out of my head. Like. I keep telling my self they’re not suffering at this moment.
They’re dead.
They’re dead.
They’re dead.
But how is that any better?! Humans seriously need to reevaluate how we use social media to create real (and fake) content to get attention from people by engaging their emotions. It’s sick. And I need a break. You know that feeling you get when you watch a video that’s so contrived that you know it’s fake but it’s trying to play on your emotions ? I just want to vomit.
We don’t need fake things to get a rise out of us. The real shit that’s going on is bad enough.
Happy Friday.
Eternal Ocean of Words 
😩😩😩, so sorry, your pain was so vivid in this post. With news articles in general I’ve adopted a survival mechanism where I know when to shut things down before I get too invested, because I know that a moment’s looking into something is going to horrify me. Although I did also read a news article about these dolphins, but yeah, I wasn’t exposed to graphic images like that and would also find it devastating. I read the plain facts then closed it all. I thought of you when reading about those dolphins too.
And it’s a shame you’re having to do the same thing with Instagram where you’ve previously found the opposite of that.
What you just said at the end there is so true and I feel exactly the same. Unfortunately I just don’t trust any kind of social media anymore, at all. The only kind of similar thing I trust is wordpress. Staying clear of it all is so good for your health. We DID have other ways to achieve what most of social media tries to do.
You know when facebook first introduced the ‘like’ mechanism, I had this visceral response to it where I thought how shallow and superficial is that, and never felt an urge to use it. And how much of a foreshadowing was that…! Of course it could only lead to bad things 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️. The first time I started liking stuff was on wordpress.
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I also just couldn’t believe how much people seemingly valued likes off the bat, too 😆. Like what? 😐. I’ve learnt too much about my fellow man!
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Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment, Robin. I really appreciate it. I do think I have to be a lot more cognizant of the media that I consume and guard my peace more forcefully. I like that you thought of me when you think of the ocean/dolphins.
I had a similar sentiment with the like button… I foresaw people getting all bent out of shape when not getting “enough” likes, or making social comparisons to people who got more. Sigh.
On a positive note, I have found wordpress to be a calm space.
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Natalie, Yes, it is sorrowful to see images like that.
It is also sad to me, that a mental health professional, counselor, and teacher, would resort to foul guttural words instead of raising the bar for communication and help turn society back to that higher plane, helping others reach for a better character by being a positive model. You are to be an influencer for good, not another that feeds to the continued degradation of our culture.
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Thanks for your comment. And while I recognize that I cursed twice, I think that potential transgression pales in what I was attempting to describe with the strong language.
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