Traumatizing, growing, or both? Exploring the role of social media in communal coping during vicarious traumatization

Abstract

Social media now plays a vital role in disseminating information about traumatic events, leading to vicarious traumatization that individuals do not directly experience. However, social media platforms also provide individuals opportunities for coping with stressors. To understand how coping strategies extend beyond individual level in the face of widespread vicarious traumatization on social media, this study adopts the communal coping theory and the theoretical model of communal coping (ETMCC) to explore individuals’ perception and coping mechanisms. Specifically, our research focuses on the Itaewon crowd crush as a case study to examine how social media vicarious traumatization can serve as a stressor, eliciting communal coping process. This study surveyed 410 Koreans, with an average age of 28.8, who regularly use social media. The results support the applicability of the ETMCC framework in the context of vicarious traumatization, showing social media’s dual role in both triggering and alleviating trauma. Participants engaged in various social media coping strategies and perceived communal coping through online interactions. The findings highlight how social media behaviors can foster posttraumatic growth, offering valuable insights for community recovery after trauma.