Photo illustration depicts displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during Gaza-Israel war. Smartphones have made it so images, including graphic content of war, are accessible to users 24 hours a day. Jaber Jehad Badwan | Wikimedia Commons
Claire Hall | Contributor
The war on Gaza and the war on Ukraine have been heavily recorded and are posted on social media platforms. While swiping on a platform like Instagram, one can run into an influencer talking about a war or a blurry video begging to be viewed, that depicts violence and gore. This has exposed students and teachers to the violence of war.
“I’ve seen a few dead bodies,” said Nadeen Hussein, a WTMC student, explaining that her Instagram algorithm will sometimes suggest violent content, and it affects her. “Mostly what’s affected me is the negative things, for example, the kill count of children in Gaza.”
Since the declaration of war on Gaza in 2023, at least 52,400 Palestinians have been killed, and over 1,000 Israelis have been killed. According to Al Jazeera, 44% of Palestinians who have been killed are children. Millions of Palestinians have been displaced within the Gaza Strip.
“We keep it on all the time,” said Selena Kahla, another WTMC student, speaking about her home, where the news runs on the TV all day. “It’s hard to see the stuff that’s going on there. A lot of them are just babies…just newborns.”
Over 100 children are killed a day in the Gaza Strip, according to Al Jazeera.
Sean Denomme, an engineering student at WCC, said with regards to the news, “you can’t seem to get away from it, and you’re not sure if you want to.”
He recalled that, during the peak of the war in Ukraine, it impacted his day-to-day life dramatically. According to UALosses.org, since the declaration of war in 2014, over 140,000 Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives, and according to The Kyiv Independent, over 900,000 Russian soldiers have lost their lives.
The students mentioned that there are moments of hope online, but the videos that tend to stick in people’s heads the most are the negative ones.
“It’s a human reaction to be drawn into this type of content,” said Jim Bauer, a licensed professional counselor at WCC. The algorithms that control what people view know that the most intense content will get the most engagement.
Bauer advises students to be careful with how much content they view.
“I would say consume the minimal effective dose. How much do you need to stay on top of things—I do think it’s important.” He also suggests “focus on your mental well-being as well, create some guardrails to give yourself limits.”
Christina Herbin, professional faculty in the psychology department at WCC, said she has been on a news cleanse as of late because over-exposure to the news has left her with stress, and a feeling of helplessness.
“We care so much and have a desire to alleviate another person’s suffering, but we can’t necessarily go there and change the circumstances, so it puts us in the spot of being really helpless.” She suggests for students to do research on organizations like UNICEF that are supplying food to those in need. She also recommends to rally, to talk to local elected officials, to sign petitions, or just little things to help.
Myron Covington, an Intercultural Communications Teacher at WCC, said there’s been an uptick in speeches in his classroom about the war on Gaza. Because of the amount of news and media coverage, it’s hard not to learn about it, and want to speak on it. But he warns that keeping to one side of a topic and never looking at the other side is dangerous.
“We like people who confirm us, we like people who identify with us…we like like-minded people,” said Covington, who emphasized that it’s important to listen to people and to try to understand them.
“Try to view that other person, and give them the benefit from the start. Make a genuine good-faith effort to say ‘this is a good person’ from the start,” said Covington.
Editor’s note: On May 1, 2025, this article was updated to correct the number of Palestinians killed since Oct. 7, 2023.
