Psych Health and Safety in News and Social Media - with Jacqui Wilmshurst

In this episode we chat with Dr Jacqui Wilmshurst, Chartered Psychologist and Director of Safety in Mind. Jacqui shares her experiences in working with content moderators in social media, and journalists in news media. We discuss the risk of vicarious trauma arising from exposure to graphic or disturbing content, along with the "normal" psychosocial hazards arising from the design of work. Jacqui shares examples of how psychological risk can be reduced for content moderators while still enabling them to do their job, and discusses the challenge social media companies face in protecting their users from harmful content by exposing their employees to that content. We talk about the typical consequences of poor management of psychosocial hazards for content moderators. We discuss the role of the users of social media as content creators, and consider whether there is an opportunity for greater public awareness of the impact of user content on moderators. www.safetyinmind.org