Facebook moderators in Phoenix endure high stress levels, can burn out
Feb 27, 2019, 9:20 AM
(AP Photo)
(AP Photo)
PHOENIX – Moderating extreme social media posts is taking a toll on Facebook employees in Phoenix, according to an online news report, and that doesn’t surprise a local psychologist.
Anyone who “is continually exposed to negative, critical, traumatic types of content can, over time, start to develop some symptoms of anxiety, stress and burnout,” Dr. Melissa Estavillo told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Tuesday.
The Verge interviewed several former moderators in Phoenix who have watched videos of sex and violence and read cruel remarks about minorities, crime victims and people with disabilities.
The employees work for the social media network giant through a third party in the Valley, the article said.
“The two things we see most commonly is something called compassion fatigue,” Estavillo, a clinical psychologist, said, meaning that over time, a person feels less emotion.
“It’s not that we don’t care, it’s just that, in a way, our body begins to protect us from the intensity.”
Another byproduct of repeated exposure to harsh content is vicarious trauma, a response over time to secondhand experience of others’ suffering.
“Many people are caught off guard by some of the anxiety that produces days or weeks later,” Estavillo said.
“I think it’s important for us to have moments in time where we … have some room to be able process it so that it doesn’t inadvertently produce some anxiety or stress symptoms later.”
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ali Vetnar contributed to this report.
