Best practice on viewing graphic imagery

If there is an immediate concern of harm to yourself or someone else, please connect with the Trust and Safety team immediately:

• Credible threats of physical harm or persecution: emergencywikimedia.org
• List of emergency mental health helplines filtered by country
• If you are injured or in immediate danger,call your local emergency services

When viewing media on wiki-projects, we might see images and videos of war, violence, and other potentially graphic or upsetting topics. Seeing and hearing such content can significantly affect our mental wellbeing, which in turn impacts our ability to do wiki-work. This page provides some advice on how to minimize the impact of seeing graphic and upsetting content before and after viewing it.

Before viewing

Limit where and when you watch

Try to avoid consuming potentially upsetting content when you are tired, dehydrated, hungry, just before bed and first thing in the morning. When you come across a potentially upsetting piece of content, think about whether now is the right time to watch, or whether you should come back to it in another moment. Take regular screen breaks and make changes to the way you sit/stand in front of your screen. Create a dedicated space for engaging with (upsetting) media. If possible, sit next to natural light or plants, not in your bedroom and definitely away from your bed. This can help prevent negative memories from contaminating those places.

Be concentrated and take notes if necessary so you can avoid having to rewatch the upsetting content.

Regulate sound, size and color

The most upsetting content is often the audio – consider turning the volume off or down the first time you watch something.

If you know you’re going to watch something upsetting, minimizing the photo/video’s size, viewing in gallery mode or switching to a smaller device can help lessen the emotional impact. To make your computer screen size smaller:

• MacOS: ‘cmd’ + ‘-’
• Windows: ‘ctrl’ + ‘-’

Viewing content in grayscale can lessen the emotional impact as well. To set your screen to grayscale:

• iPhone: Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Color Filters > Toggle Color Filters on > Select Grayscale (to set up a shortcut, follow these instructions)
• Android: Settings > Accessibility > Color and motion/Visibility enhancements > Color correction > Grayscale (to set up a shortcut, follow these instructions)
• MacOS: System Settings > Accessibility > Display > Toggle Color filters on (grayscale is default)
• Windows: Start > Settings > Accessibility > Toggle Color filters on > Select grayscale

For reviewing videos, skip to different points in the video to prepare yourself for what you’re about to see.

When you’ve seen something upsetting

Pay attention to your body’s reactions

When we’ve seen something truly upsetting, the fear or disgust we feel might manifest in our body as it sends out adrenalin and other hormones and prepares for survival. If you are experiencing physical reactions such as shallow breathing and tightened muscles, tend to those first by taking deep and calming breaths, and untensing your muscles.

Get away from the screen and counterprogram

Upsetting content can be hard to shake without making an active effort to overcome it. Doing some immediate counterprogramming can help overwrite the negative experience and make it easier to deal with feelings down the line. When you’ve seen something upsetting, close your laptop or phone and step away from it. It might help you to listen to music you love, watch your favorite TV show, get some fresh air, meditate, or have a quick phone call with a friend. Moving your body by walking, exercising or stretching can also help you process what you’ve experienced. Some research suggests playing puzzle games like Tetris that require manipulation of objects can have a similarly protective effect.

Talk with others about what you’ve seen and what you think

Researchers say releasing negative feelings after viewing something intense can help to avoid potential long-term effects. Ask those around you if you can discuss with them what you can’t unsee – and respect their agency if they choose not to engage. Move on and try to find someone else who's willing to engage. If you can, create cultures where openness about mental wellbeing is encouraged.

Dealing with emotional distress

Experiencing some level of distress, anger or numbness is very common after viewing upsetting and graphic content. If the negative emotions get stuck for longer and manifest in other situations as well, consider consulting with a mental health professional. Some warning signs to be alert of: marked changes in character, unusual irritability, intrusive thoughts of the content, unusual isolation, feeling of meaninglessness and numbness, increase in reliance on coping mechanisms (alcohol, drugs, overworking, …). Have a look at the Mental Health Resource Center on Meta-Wiki for more resources, informational material and support helplines in case of emergency.