Presenter Information
Thomas N. Elias
Department of Theology
Abstract
More and more, young adults are encountering war and violence through an unrelenting stream of social media images and videos: bombed apartment blocks, civilians fleeing airstrikes, and acts of political violence. Psychological research links exposure to unfiltered depictions of war with heightened trauma symptoms. In the age of social media, people undergo the moral processes online in response to war, terror, and injustice. While these platforms amplify global awareness, they also strain the capacities of moral agents to see clearly, judge responsibly, and act meaningfully. Drawing on Catholic social thought, digital ethics, and psychological research, this project explores how viral violence destabilizes each stage of the Catholic See-Judge-Act method. Phenomena like algorithmic curation, misinformation, desensitization, moral fatigue, and clicktivism constrain moral perception, judgment, and action. Viral violence creates epistemological confusion, fragmented judgment, and diminished moral agency, particularly among young adults whose moral formation unfolds in digital environments. Despite these disruptions, See-Judge-Act remains a viable method for navigating online moral landscapes, leveraging the functional strengths present on social media and the capacities of its users. This paper argues that See-Judge-Act and the Catholic Social Tradition can strengthen understanding of moral formation and identify workable pathways for attentiveness, communal judgment, and effective action on social media.
School
McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts
Advisor
Anna Floerke-Scheid
Submission Type
Paper
Included in
Applied Ethics Commons, Catholic Studies Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons
See-Judge-Act in the Age of Viral Violence: Moral Agency, Praxis, and Social Media
More and more, young adults are encountering war and violence through an unrelenting stream of social media images and videos: bombed apartment blocks, civilians fleeing airstrikes, and acts of political violence. Psychological research links exposure to unfiltered depictions of war with heightened trauma symptoms. In the age of social media, people undergo the moral processes online in response to war, terror, and injustice. While these platforms amplify global awareness, they also strain the capacities of moral agents to see clearly, judge responsibly, and act meaningfully. Drawing on Catholic social thought, digital ethics, and psychological research, this project explores how viral violence destabilizes each stage of the Catholic See-Judge-Act method. Phenomena like algorithmic curation, misinformation, desensitization, moral fatigue, and clicktivism constrain moral perception, judgment, and action. Viral violence creates epistemological confusion, fragmented judgment, and diminished moral agency, particularly among young adults whose moral formation unfolds in digital environments. Despite these disruptions, See-Judge-Act remains a viable method for navigating online moral landscapes, leveraging the functional strengths present on social media and the capacities of its users. This paper argues that See-Judge-Act and the Catholic Social Tradition can strengthen understanding of moral formation and identify workable pathways for attentiveness, communal judgment, and effective action on social media.