WKRC: Experts ponder why some record, share violent images from crime scenes
UC experts explain growing trend
WKRC-Local 12 reporter Angela Ingram probed deeper into a disturbing story of gun violence in Sycamore Township and its aftermath which was shared online in videos. Ingram spoke with Maria Espinola, an assistant professor in the UC Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, about the growing obsession of using social media to record violent acts.
“Their brain is not fully developed until they’ve reached 20 or 21,” explained Espinola, a clinical psychologist for UC Health. “So they act, oftentimes, on impulse so they may feel a lot of compassion for the person next to them and for what happened, but they feel the impulse to just share it with the world.“
WKRC-Local 12 also interviewed Jeffrey Blevins, UC associate professor of journalism, about trends in social media. He said technology has made recording and sharing the new norm. “That now becomes the first instinct in a lot of complex or socially precarious situations,” said Blevins.
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