parenting revolution

Is Your Child Following True Crime?

March 31, 2021 by GetKidsInternetSafe

Have you ever witnessed the scene of a car accident and wondered why it was hard to look away? More often than not, you are left with more questions than answers. How did this happen? What events led up to that moment? Somehow learning the facts makes us feel more in control and less vulnerable. In the same way that a car accident catches our attention, true crime stories have become extremely popular. Murder mysteries are increasingly making their way to everyday platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Apple Podcasts as well as streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime. With the push of a button, teens and tweens have unlimited access to gruesome content like crime scene photos, autopsy reports, and case reenactments. Today’s article covers the genre of true crime, the effects of constant exposure, and GKIS tips to keep your family safe from digital injury.

What is true crime?

True crime is a nonfiction genre that covers real-life events of crime and other acts of deviance. Depending on the medium, the delivery of the story can vary. Cable reserves several channels (Investigation Discovery, Oxygen) for true crime stories told through reenactments and interviews with the victim’s family.

Platforms like YouTube and TikTok typically have the user telling the story, sometimes supported with real crime scene photos or dispatch calls. Netflix has released documentaries like Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer which recounts the horrifying murders committed by Richard Ramirez, a serial killer who lived in Los Angeles and San Francisco in 1985.[1]

While watching these types of true crime series, one episode may turn into two and before you know it, you can fall down a rabbit hole researching related information. While true crime stories may pique your child’s interest, it is important to note that the details embedded in these true crime cases are not age-appropriate for kids, tweens, or even teens.

It can be hard to pinpoint where to start with internet safety, which is why GetKidsInternetSafe has done the research for you. Our free Connected Family Agreement provides a 10-step plan that organizes screen time while maintaining a healthy alliance with your child(ren). In addition, our GKIS Screen Safety Toolkit is a family-tested, outcome-based resource guide that provides links and how-to information about parental controls, social media filtering, and blocking for safe browsing.

The Psychology Behind Indulging in True Crime

You might be wondering why anyone would spend their leisure time exposing themselves to such explicit content. According to Psychology Today, reasons for indulging in true crime are simple— adrenaline, fear, and mystery (figuring out the who, why, and how).[2]

When you experience fear, your sympathetic nervous system is stimulated with the same arousal that you’d experience during a state of emergency. When this system is at work, your body is releasing a stress hormone known as adrenaline.[3] Adrenaline can arouse feelings of fear or pleasure. Whether you’re watching a true-crime documentary or riding a rollercoaster, that same hormone is secreted throughout your body. Frequent reinforcement of that adrenaline can be just as addicting as taking drugs or alcohol.

Other explanations for indulging in true crime involve catharsis. Catharsis is a process of releasing repressed emotion, as one may do while identifying with the victim of a true crime story. Watching true crime allows you to experience fear and anxiety in a controlled environment, without actually being put into the situation at hand.[4] Catharsis is then remedied by feelings of safety, knowing that the suspect was caught, the case was solved, or that the case has left the viewer feeling more aware of what could happen. It’s the same fear/thrill and relief that drives some people to watch horror movies. Some viewers also join true crime communities where they feel a sense of camaraderie as they sleuth through the issues together, leading to feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment. Empowerment over seemingly hopeless situations is genuinely rewarding.

Effects of Constant Exposure

Desensitization

In psychology, desensitization refers to the decline in emotional response due to repeated exposure.[[5]] It makes sense that, just as research has found that playing violent video games causes desensitization to violence for some players, vulnerable kids and teens consuming gruesome details of true-life death, murder, and violent crime may be desensitized as well.[6] An example of kids already becoming desensitized to true crime is the viral TikTok of a live suicide that became embedded in other seemingly innocent videos.

While it may be interesting to learn about deviant behavior, constant exposure to this kind of content may also dull positive emotional responses like empathy and compassion. Research on desensitization has found that constant exposure to violence (even over a short period of time) may result in declines in empathy for victims.[7] This enables the true crime genre to become a source of entertainment, rather than a tribute to the victim and their families.

Cultivation Theory and Hypervigilance

Cultivation theory is a theory that suggests a relationship between media exposure/consumption and how it may alter one’s perception and behavior.[8] In the context of viewing true crime, constant exposure may lead someone to think that they are more susceptible to becoming a victim of a crime. There is a big connection between this theory and news outlets, as the news strives to cover deviant acts that plague the community like robberies, assaults, and police pursuits.

With laptops and cell phones readily available, this exposure is not limited to what the news is covering that day.
Teens and tweens can seek multiple sources for true crime content, which in turn, may increase susceptibility to hypervigilance in their day-to-day life. Hypervigilance is a state of constant alertness and fear, which causes someone to feel that they need to protect themselves from potential danger. Hypervigilance is commonly connected to generalized anxiety disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder.

To keep our children safe, we must take the steps to be proactive, not reactive. It can be tricky to virtually monitor their screen time without jeopardizing your parent-child relationship, which is why GKIS founder Dr. Tracy Bennett designed a Social Media Readiness Course. Specifically for teens and tweens, this social media training teaches kids and their parents about digital injuries through modules and mastery quizzes. Kids are also equipped with Dr. Bennett’s psychological wellness techniques to protect them from bad outcomes like depression, anxiety, and self-harm (as seen by many adolescents since the rise in screen time in the past year).

Thanks to GKIS volunteer Kaylen Sanchez for contributing to this GKIS article.

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Photo Credits

Photo by kat wilcox from Pexels

Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash

Photo by Martin Lopez from Pexels

Works Cited

[[1]] Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer. (2021, January 13). Retrieved fromhttps://www.netflix.com/title/81025701

[[2]] Bonn, S. (2016, May 30). The Delightful, Guilty Pleasure of Watching True Crime TV. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wicked-deeds/201605/the-delightful-guilty-pleasure-watching-true-crime-tv

[[3]] Griggs, R. A. (2014). Psychology: A concise introduction. Worth Publishers

[[4]] Ramsland, K. (2019, July 24). The Unique Allure of the Scene of a Crime. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shadow-boxing/201907/the-unique-allure-the-scene-crime

[[5]] Fanti, K. A., Vanman, E., Henrich, C. C., & Avraamides, M. N. (2009). Desensitization to media violence over a short period of time. Aggressive Behavior, 35(2), 179–187. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csuci.edu/10.1002/ab.20295

[[6]] Fanti, K. A., Vanman, E., Henrich, C. C., & Avraamides, M. N. (2009). Desensitization to media violence over a short period of time. Aggressive Behavior, 35(2), 179–187. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csuci.edu/10.1002/ab.20295

[[7]] Fanti, K. A., Vanman, E., Henrich, C. C., & Avraamides, M. N. (2009). Desensitization to media violence over a short period of time. Aggressive Behavior, 35(2), 179–187. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csuci.edu/10.1002/ab.20295

[[8]] Potter, W. J. (1993). Cultivation theory and research: A conceptual critique. Human Communication Research, 19(4), 564–601. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csuci.edu/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1993.tb00313.x

Opportunity, Concern, Hard Work, Leadership. Time For a GetKidsInternetSafe Revolution!

July 23, 2014 by Dr. Tracy Bennett

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Like Tracy Chapman crooned, “Talking about a revolution sounds like a whisper.” Each day I am inspired by experiences that seem divinely connected. I hope today’s article, which includes some TED talks and a wacky story about how I met my husband, triggers in you the inspiration to be a smarter parent in the digital age and join the GetKidsInternetSafe (GKIS) Parenting Revolution. It is time!

You know those days when the universe hands you experiences that somehow connect? And when that happens, you feel compelled to DO SOMETHING? It’s as if you’ve just received a gift and must decide whether to unwrap it and delve into something deliciously important or simply fold laundry and carry on with your day?

This morning the universe handed me two TED talks, a psychology ethics and law conference, and a scary clinical story of the week. Morgan referred me to the first TED talk after she saw it in a college education course (embedded at the bottom of this article). In this award winning presentation (2013 TED Prize), educational researcher, Sugata Mitra, describes his brilliant experiment where he placed a computer in a hole in the wall facing a slum in India with no instruction and no supervision. After a few weeks, researchers returned to the computer to find that groups of children had taught themselves, and each other, complex theory, even when it wasn’t in their own language! When he repeated this experiment with an adult standing by to provide praise (still no instruction), the children performed even better! He argues that our education system is outdated and argues for reform. Mr. Mitra’s experiment highlighted some important variables discussed within GetKidsInternetSafe. Specifically, technology is an excellent motivator and learning tool for our children, and adult affection and supervision remains essential for our children’s healthy cognitive and emotional development. He also highlights the need for analysis and redesign to educate our children in the digital age. OPPORTUNITY.

In regard to the clinical situation that struck me this week, ethics restraints inhibit me from describing it in detail. But let me just say it involves two vulnerable adolescents who acted out sexually at school in a way that was clearly inspired by pornography exposure. These types of situations are extremely distressing for all involved and happening at a frequency I’ve never before seen in my 20-year clinical career. CONCERN.

I also attended a law and ethics conference this week. Although my colleagues and I sometimes dread these conferences due to the discussions about informed consent and computer firewalls, I always leave energized make a difference as a psychologist. HARD WORK.

The second TED talk I included illuminates the courage needed to start a movement and touches upon the importance of, not just the movement’s creator, but also the first follower. As a get-to-know-each-other piece, I’ll tell you a story about how I learned that my most comfortable role is first follower and why, although initially irritated about it, I eventually learned to embrace this aspect of my personality (and snag my awesome husband). After all, my leadership style is what pushed me to start a much-needed revolution in parenting in the digital age when I wasn’t seeing enough of us was stepping up to lead. I’m hoping that it will inspire you to analyze what leadership role best fits you and to join the GKIS PARENTING REVOLUTION!

In the early 1990s, with four years of clinical psychology coursework out of the way, I started my hard-won internship at the local Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital. Within the first month, I signed up to participate in a 4-day Tavistock conference. The mission of this conference was to join an assortment of other mental health professionals to learn about group process. Essentially, the conference participants were tasked to form small groups and interact with each other while trained staff interpreted unconscious process. With this structure, participants learned what role(s) they took in a group by analyzing their own and other’s behaviors during prescribed tasks.

People often ask my husband and me how we met. It is always a fun story to tell them that we met and fell for each other during this weird and wonderful conference. (This is also where my husband says it was a nude conference – which it wasn’t.)

The attended with my friend, Pam, who was a mother of two and the wife of a fundamentalist minister. Being in graduate school, she was exploring all parts of her personality and impulsively attended the conference wearing a leather jacket and smoking cigarettes. (Graduate school made us all a little crazy, ha-ha.) She and I ended up in the same small group as a tall, bearded psychiatry resident from UCLA named Dan. It wasn’t long into the first day when I found myself seeking him out during the breaks. I remember becoming intrigued by his rebellious spirit and when he made some sort of Greek mythology reference, I swooned because I found him brilliant, sexy, and Tracy-level nerdish.

So to make a long story short, despite my efforts to pretend I was a consummate professional and not lusting on this mysterious psychiatry resident, Dan and I ended up co-leaders to the weirdest assortment of characters at the conference. Normally, I would have bailed on this group of wacky strangers in favor of joining friends, but I didn’t want to leave Dan, and he didn’t want to leave me. So fresh out of the Navy and disgusted with our hippy ideas, Dan shook his head as we voted for a “tribal leadership” style. This meant we took turns leading based on the group we were meeting, including my friend Pam’s group who wore crowns of leaves, called themselves “Athena,” and would only acknowledge the women in our group. See? Crazy town.

Just to touch on some highlights of our weird conference, let me say that many people dropped out from the stress. Our group took double lunches and was the only group to refuse staff support. By the end the conference, our group was voted the most in need of psychological intervention. (I exaggerate, but it’s mostly true.) Also by the end of the four days, Dan and I were half out of our minds with weird psychology process and attraction for each other. We learned so much about how we tend to lead as individuals, and this knowledge inspires me to step up when I see a need and to enlist support to make a real difference. As Dan and I walked to our cars to go home the last day, he became the first (and last) man I ever actually asked out. And, true to what we learned in the conference, we teach our three kids that being a leader is a gift that must be developed.

My anxiety about what I was seeing in practice and in my own home inspired me to start www.GetKidsInternetSafe.com. It is evident from the feedback I am getting and the learning along the way that we more than education, WE NEED A GetKidsInternetSafe PARENTING REVOLUTION!

The “Hole in the Wall” TED talk pointed out that our kids have mind-blowing learning opportunities if we embrace it with them! My clinical experiences tell me that some real damage is being done because we aren’t doing our best parenting, and the time to act is NOW! And the ethics conference reminded me that putting work into a new project is intimidating and sometimes difficult, but doing the right thing always outweighs the easy thing. And finally, the “How to Start a Movement” TED talk confirmed that it is time we take the reins in this Wild West time of unsupervised/unregulated technology. I’m up dancing people, grab your jazz hands and run to the grassy knoll. We have some real work to do!

There are lots of inspiring posts on my GetKidsInternetSafe Facebook page. Please give me some “likes” by connecting with the grey social media buttons on the side bar and recommend www.GetKidsInternetSafe.com to those you would grab by the hand to join you for an inspired interpretive dance! Time to get the GKIS PARENTING REVOLUTION launched!

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Photo credits:

Trambourmajor by Niels Linneberg, CC by-NC-SA 2.0