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Even those who were lucky enough to evacuate in time or who lived outside the evacuation zone were not spared this week’s fires in the Los Angeles area.
There are few vantage points in the city where you can’t see flames and smoke, and there’s no place where you can’t smell the burning memories.
And on our screens, seemingly on every channel, social media feed, text thread, WhatsApp group, a never-ending carousel of images, a level of horror that was unimaginable here as of Tuesday morning. It records loss and grief.
Even when physically safe, many in Los Angeles are finding it difficult to turn away from the worst of the destruction online.
“For me, I’m more comfortable doomscrolling than sitting and waiting,” said Clara Starling, who was evacuated from her home on Wednesday. “I’d rather know exactly where the fire is and where it’s heading than know nothing at all.”
A writer and comedian, Sterling is, by her own admission, extremely online savvy. But experts say the nature of this week’s fires makes it especially difficult to stay away from the press and social media.
Casey Fiessler, an associate professor of technology ethics at the University of Colorado Boulder, says she starts by scrolling through images of far-off crises and stays up-to-date on ongoing disasters happening in her neighborhood. He said there is an important difference between the two.
“It’s also strange to think of it as a ‘doom scroll,'” she says. “When you’re in that situation, you’re also looking for important information that is very difficult to obtain.”
Roxanne Cohen Silver, a distinguished professor of psychological science at the University of California, found that when people identify with victims of traumatic events, they are more likely to seek media coverage of their experiences, and the media they see can make them feel even more distressed. He said he is likely to feel it. Irvine.
For Los Angeles residents, this week’s fires are impacting those we know most intimately: our families, friends, and community members. They have consumed places and landmarks that feature prominently in their nostalgic memories and daily lives.
Silver said the ubiquitous images have also stirred painful memories for people who have experienced similar disasters. Silver said that number is increasing as wildfires become more frequent in California.
This is something she knows personally. She evacuated from the Laguna Beach Fire in 1993 and began a long-term study of fire survivors days after returning home.
“Across California, across the West, across communities that have experienced wildfires, we are especially prepared and sensitive to that news,” she said. “And the more you immerse yourself in the news, the more likely you are to experience distress.”
Jyoti Mishra, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, who studied the long-term psychological health of survivors of the 2018 Camp Fire, says immersing yourself in these images of fire and ash can be traumatic in and of itself. He said that it could cause.
The research team found that both survivors who had personally experienced fire-related trauma, such as injuries and property damage, and, to a smaller but significant extent, those who had experienced the trauma indirectly, They identified residual symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. witness.
“If you are witnessing [trauma] “When you see what’s happening in the media and what’s happening on the streets where you live and walk, and you can actually put yourself in that place, you can definitely have an impact,” says the University of California Center for Climate Change. said Mishra, who is also co-director. Mental Health Council. “Research in psychology and neuroscience shows that images and videos that create personal meaning can have a profound emotional impact.”
It’s hard to look away from the emotional pull of videos and images on social media, even though many people find it much harder to trust the information out there.
Like many others, Sterling spent a lot of time online during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stirling said he felt the social media environment was definitely different at the time.
“This time around, there’s been so much movement to remove verified accounts without fact-checking that I feel less informed about what’s going on,” she said. .
The rise of AI-generated images and photos adds another complication, as Sterling highlighted in a video posted to TikTok earlier Thursday.
“Last night, the Hollywood sign was not on fire. All the videos and photos you saw of the Hollywood sign on fire were fake. They were generated by AI,” he said from a San Diego hotel after being evacuated. Posted.
Lake Balboa producer and voice actor Hunter Deitch expressed similar concerns about the lack of accurate information. Some of the social media content she encountered appeared to be “highly polarizing” and political, exaggerating the scope of the disaster and featuring outright fabrications like the Hollywood sign on fire. There were also things to do.
She said the spread of misinformation has added additional stress. This week, she started turning to other types of apps, such as disaster mapping app Watch Duty, to track the spread of fires and changes in evacuation zones.
But that made her wonder. “What am I even doing on social media if I have to check a whole bunch of other apps to get accurate information?”
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