Years ago, a mass shooting dominated the mainstream media for days, if not a week. Now, they get a snippet before moving on to the next big thing.
Even though students and parents are worried now more than ever about school shootings, people have stopped being shocked as mass shootings almost becoming routine.
The University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Behavioral Health and Research Director and professor Dr. Jeff Temple says becoming desensitized doesn't make you a bad person...if we internalized and not become numb, we'd have a hard time leaving our homes.
“The body and the brain’s way of being able to manage all of these shootings,” said Temple. “I think it’s a way for us to become distant from them, emotionally and cognitively, in order to cope with our environment and cope with all these mass shootings.”
Mainstream Mental Health clinical forensic psychologist Dr. John Huber said the mainstream media chooses to focus on mass shootings.
“We sensationalize it because it sells. People pick up and read that because it’s traumatic,” said Huber. “We beat it to death and we become so sensationalized, and now we’re saturated.”
He added that every year, 1,200 people die every year from bathtub drownings, but the mainstream media doesn't cover that.