Mariia Sorokopud CTA-P
Field of audience: P

Language: English
Level of audience: All

In this work shop I will explore some processes that surfaced in Ukrainian population at times of war, that were reflected in social media use and consequences of it in offline realm.

In time of war stress reduces cognitive functions and healthy coping, while increasing alertness and seeking mechanisms. We switch from a normal living to survival. This process can be more prominent in vulnerable groups- ethnic minorities, women, children, older aged people. This can affect states of vulnerability and susceptibility of the individual, making them defenseless against information overload, type of information and disinformation.

While social media can provide a space for connection and new beginnings, it can also overload with information, support unhealthy strategies and beliefs that are unhelpful to the person and cause traumatization due to exposure.

In case of social media use, harm to others and self-harm can happen while using social media uncontrollably, without self-censorship and additional check-up of truthfulness and correctness.

In order to illustrate these effects I will present two case vignettes (fictional characters based on actual cases) demonstrating effects of social media on contamination and decontamination (Berne 1964) process, that happened abruptly and in unsafe environment, causing moral injury and trauma, and following healing process.

In second case I will show how information (propaganda, disinformation and facts, that were unknown previously) can affect a person and cause identity crisis.