When war becomes background noise: Emotional numbness on the rise, experts say

The Star

21-06-2025

Every morning, Rasha opens her phone and scrolls through an endless feed of contradictions. A reel of someone dancing barefoot in Bali. A news flash about families displaced in Gaza. An ad for luxury watches. Another explosion. Another crying child. As news became just another piece of content, squeezed between influencer vlogs and product promotions, Rasha noticed something shift.
"Through the years, I've noticed my reaction change," she says. "Of course I care, it breaks my heart, but it doesn't shatter me anymore. I just keep scrolling."
Like many others who have lived in a digital world saturated with crisis content, where footage of war, displacement, and disaster is available 24/7, Rasha finds herself suspended between compassion and emotional numbness.
"Emotional numbness is a coping mechanism," says Daniela Semedo, a clinical psychologist at BPS Clinic. "It happens when people are exposed to distressing images or stories so often that their minds begin to shut down emotionally, not because they don't care, but because they're overwhelmed."
According to Semedo, the mind does this to protect itself. When tragedy becomes a daily backdrop, whether through social media, breaking news alerts, or forwarded videos, the emotional system can blunt its own responses as a survival strategy.
"We're not meant to process this much trauma at once," she adds. "Repeated exposure to violent imagery can desensitise people, even those who have never lived through war themselves."
For those who experienced war firsthand, that desensitisation can be even more complex, part of a wider set of symptoms that includes avoidance, hypervigilance, or disconnection from others.
"In survivors of war or forced displacement, emotional numbness can show up as flatness, silence, or even seeming indifference," explains Rahaf Kobeissi, trauma therapist and founder of Rays Your Mental Health. "But this is not apathy, it's a deeply protective response to unprocessed trauma."
She notes that digital triggers can reinforce that response. "A video clip, a headline, even a WhatsApp voice note can reactivate past memories. When it happens often enough, the nervous system tries to dull the reaction, which over time leads to emotional shutdown."
This pattern of compassion fatigue or numb scrolling doesn't only affect war survivors. Experts say even people with no direct exposure to conflict can experience a sense of helplessness or emotional burnout from constantly consuming violent content.
"There's a difference between being informed and being flooded," says Kobeissi. "The latter can leave people feeling emotionally flat, anxious, or disconnected, especially when they don't have the tools to process what they're seeing."
In cases where emotional numbness persists, it may also be an early warning sign of deeper trauma, especially for those who have previously lived in conflict zones.
"PTSD doesn't always look like flashbacks or panic attacks," says Semedo. "Sometimes it looks like silence. Withdrawal. A loss of interest in things that used to matter. People often think they're 'handling it well' when they've actually shut down emotionally."
Healing from this kind of emotional overload, both experts agree, requires intentional support, and a conscious effort to step away from the constant noise. That can include limiting news consumption, building in daily grounding rituals, and, when needed, seeking professional help.
"We can't feel everything, all the time," says Kobeissi. "But we can learn to feel safely again, and that's where healing begins." – Khaleej Times (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)/Tribune News Service