3 ms·

“Growing up on the edgy internet” isn’t the same as a work week of seeing non-stop images of CSAM or beheadings or shootings. Even if you were on /b/ all day ev

“Growing up on the edgy internet” isn’t the same as a work week of seeing non-stop images of CSAM or beheadings or shootings. Even if you were on /b/ all day everyday in 2007, the two aren’t remotely comparable. I was in a Chatroulette one day that did a number on me. 10 seconds, mostly for me and my neighbor to parse what we were seeing. Once we did we immediately exited and shut the laptop and just sat there, completely mindfucked at what we saw. This was maybe like 2010 and I still think about it, it was horrid. If I was subjected to content like that for 40 hours a week I’d either be an alcoholic or checking myself into the psych ward.

sneak 3y ago
Ok, how do we know that your temporary horror would result in alcoholism or mental illness if the exposure were continued? How do we know that most people would respond that way? It seems like a major unexamined assumption to me. I don’t know why everyone just takes this as truth on faith.
matrix87 3y ago
It's actually worse. If you're watching something terrible like gore, there's still some distance between you and the thing that you're watching OTOH, if you're getting emotionally abused in a place that's already full of damaged people (and if you're seeing all of their pathological coping strategies first hand), that has more potential for long term harm
ogurechny 3y ago
Obviously, I can't study the whole database, and give percentages, but in practice most “images of CSAM” are either semi-professional or amateur photos of naked kids and teens in studio or home environments. Most likely with an ever-growing flood of selfies recently. Sometimes with sexual acts. I know we've all been going in a strange direction, but a naked body is still not a “traumatizing experience”. Regular person seeing that content for weeks only gets bored, and probably realizes that regular adult exploitation in entertainment is hardly any different (both meanings of “adult” here), which is actually a good development. However, you got used to cheap thrills coming from stories about “horrors out there” (whether digitally far away in some “darknet”, or geographically, in some “third world country”), and your imagination has already drawn you a picture of countless maniacs recreating slasher movie scenes (“life imitates art”?). It is simply logistically impossible to create that much, not to mention that criminals are not in a hurry to film themselves. As for “shootings” (an American term for media spectacle in which murders are just seeds), many of those have been causally televised for entertainment purposes. I recall some high profile “shooting” even involved some president showing an example of how all good citizens should consume that content in front of TV screens.

sneak 3y ago

Ok, how do we know that your temporary horror would result in alcoholism or mental illness if the exposure were continued? How do we know that most people would respond that way? It seems like a major unexamined assumption to me. I don’t know why everyone just takes this as truth on faith.

matrix87 3y ago

It's actually worse. If you're watching something terrible like gore, there's still some distance between you and the thing that you're watching OTOH, if you're getting emotionally abused in a place that's already full of damaged people (and if you're seeing all of their pathological coping strategies first hand), that has more potential for long term harm

ogurechny 3y ago

Obviously, I can't study the whole database, and give percentages, but in practice most “images of CSAM” are either semi-professional or amateur photos of naked kids and teens in studio or home environments. Most likely with an ever-growing flood of selfies recently. Sometimes with sexual acts. I know we've all been going in a strange direction, but a naked body is still not a “traumatizing experience”. Regular person seeing that content for weeks only gets bored, and probably realizes that regular adult exploitation in entertainment is hardly any different (both meanings of “adult” here), which is actually a good development. However, you got used to cheap thrills coming from stories about “horrors out there” (whether digitally far away in some “darknet”, or geographically, in some “third world country”), and your imagination has already drawn you a picture of countless maniacs recreating slasher movie scenes (“life imitates art”?). It is simply logistically impossible to create that much, not to mention that criminals are not in a hurry to film themselves. As for “shootings” (an American term for media spectacle in which murders are just seeds), many of those have been causally televised for entertainment purposes. I recall some high profile “shooting” even involved some president showing an example of how all good citizens should consume that content in front of TV screens.