Here are some tips and resources I’ve compiled over the years.
If you come across difficult content
- STOP reading/ reviewing content as soon as you’ve seen enough to make a decision.
- If you can’t make a decision: escalate to a manager.
- Take a break. Walk around the block, make yourself some tea, do some quick yoga exercises, look at cute cat photos, talk to someone.
- Work on something else for the rest of the day.
- Studies show that playing tetris within 1-2 hours of exposure can reduce longterm memory and flashbacks of harmful content.
- Focus on the solution and specific actions that you can take.
- Remind yourself that you are a witness, not a participant. Just putting the content in that context can be helpful.
- Project an ending: literally tell yourself how the “story” will end well: the person will be reported to authorities and won’t hurt anyone else, they’ve been removed from the site so they can’t harass anyone any more, etc.
Proactive tips
- Set up the right work environment and schedule
- Listen to yourself about what you can and can’t do every day
- Consider mindfulness and/or resilience training
- Celebrate the wins- making sure to fully appreciate a good job done helps balance out the tough times:
- Recognize when a colleague does something great
- Share happy couple’s success stories with the team
- Set mini-goals throughout the day and recognize when you accomplish them
Find other professionals to commiserate with. There are Slack and Facebook groups for moderation and support with other people who do similar work and understand what you do. This helps you know you’re not alone.
Resources/ Links