Streaming Pain

When trauma comes to the home screen

These days, it’s hard to open a screen without seeing something bleak. Families torn apart. Mass shootings. Financial chaos. The feed never runs dry.

We don’t just live through trauma anymore. We stream it.

Reality TV, social platforms, and nonstop news have turned suffering into content. As The New York Times pointed out, producers now build entire shows around contestants' past traumas. Viewers call it gripping. Networks call it ratings. But it comes at a cost; to both the people telling their stories, and the ones glued to the screen.