Every time we turn on our screens, we risk seeing some pretty graphic things. From images of mutilated bodies to areas of crime, most of us have viewed disturbing content.

This exposure can impact the way we process and respond to real-life violence. In time, our emotional desensitization will bar these graphic visuals from communicating the messages they aim to achieve.

While violent images might be the most captivating, our viewing of them leaves long-term effects. A study done by the National Library of Medicine found a shocking correlation between viewing violent media and real-life desensitization to violence: Repeated exposure to violent media can lead to a decline in the intensity of negative emotions one feels regularly. It also found that people who watch violent media are more likely to show less sympathy for real-life victims of violence.

But violence is known for being a tactic used to entice people and to elicit an action, like those sad American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or ASPCA, commercials we all know too well. They show images and clips of abused or sick animals in order to get us to donate or adopt, and it works.

But say, for example, you were watching a show, and every commercial that came on the screen was for the ASPCA. Maybe different clips and images, but every advertisement casted sad images of injured animals.

By the time the last one is over, it probably doesn’t mean anything to you anymore. Been there, done that. It doesn’t bring out the same reaction it would have if you didn’t see it multiple times already.

Seeing brutality on our screens has also enforced opinions about many important matters. A study done by the Pew Research Center in 2023 found that following the surge of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, 88 percent of Americans say they have seen videos of police brutality against Black individuals in the news.

Among those viewers, 60 percent said these videos have negatively impacted their trust in the police, and 48 percent felt it has negatively affected their sense of safety.

It works the same way with our desensitization to news. More and more often, it seems each image we see is more graphic than the last. Where brutality may have been blurred, it is now clear for the world to see.

Social media not only exposes us to violence but distorts the way we process it. We start to make jokes about these graphic things. It’s almost like seeing someone get injured results in a feeling of pleasure.

Gavin Skale, a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Iowa, has experienced this first-hand. With his feed on Instagram being flooded with violent videos, like one of a car blowing up from a landmine, Skale has noticed his lack of reaction in the real-world.

“I thought the videos were hilarious and absurd,” Skale said. “I feel like I’ve been less affected by violent content over time. I feel like I’ve gotten used to it.”

But it isn’t just affecting people in their online behaviors. Kyle Stoga, a third-year nursing student at the UI, has seen how his desensitization has changed the way he does his job as a certified nursing assistant. Stoga doesn’t react to seeing bodies and graphic injuries like he thought he would.

“I’m just like, ‘Oh, I’ve seen that before.’ It isn’t scary anymore,” Skale said.

So, where does this leave us? If violence no longer shocks us, then what happens when real tragedy strikes? Will we still feel the same urgency to care when what we see on screen becomes what we see in real life? With all of the violent media we consume, we risk losing touch with what makes us human.

Maybe it’s time to start asking ourselves: Are we just watching, or are we actually feeling?