We Have Been Desensitised

The Social Media Desensitisation Epidemic: When Gore, War Footage, and Death Become Normal

The episode discusses the speaker’s distress after being unexpectedly shown multiple graphic videos of real deaths and violence on social media platforms such as X and Instagram, and how frequent exposure has led to widespread desensitisation. It contrasts childhood reactions to fictional horror (arcade games, early internet jump-scare videos, horror films) with the current normalisation of real-world gore in short-form feeds, and describes how online comments often treat such content with apathy, humour, or memes. The script argues that decades of violent media, video games, and now readily accessible real footage may contribute to trauma, PTSD, or emotional numbness, creating a passive population less likely to react to or resist evil. It suggests engagement-driven algorithms incentivise increasingly extreme content, and frames the issue through themes of sin, human wickedness, and the speaker’s Christian faith, ending with uncertainty about solutions but a call to prayer and being a light against darkness.

00:00 Heavy Heart Intro

01:28 Graphic Feed Reality

04:23 Desensitisation Epidemic

05:15 Childhood Fear Memories

07:34 Internet Jump Scares Era

09:08 Horror Movies to Games

12:18 Real Death on Apps

16:22 Meme Culture Escalation

19:43 Engagement and Brutality

20:29 War and Killing Psychology

21:51 Trauma or No Return

24:14 Control Through Overwhelm