Once you see the videos, you can't unsee them.

Conservative political speaker Charlie Kirk was shot dead on a college campus Wednesday, Sept. 10. Late last month, Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was fatally stabbed on a train in North Carolina. Graphic videos of both atrocities spread quickly and widely online this week, appearing in people's social media feeds, often with little-to-no warning.

Getting confronted with gruesome, horrific imagery has, unfortunately, become an assumed risk when logging onto social media. Mental health and media experts, however, say the proliferation of violent videos online can have a deeply negative impact on our psyches − and that you don't have to view material like this in order to stay informed or have empathy for the victims.

"I don't think we have a responsibility to witness every instance of violence that happens," therapist Erik Anderson previously told USA TODAY. "People kind of need to be responsible for understanding what's going to trigger them and what they're able to tolerate."

Charlie Kirk, Iryna Zarutska and when a violent video goes viral

Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University in what the governor described as a "political assassination." Livestream video of the event showed crowds of people running from the university's courtyard where the 31-year-old was speaking when the shooting occurred. Earlier this week, transit officials in North Carolina released a graphic video showing the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Zarutska on a light rail train.

Mental health counselor Catherine Del Toro explained that violent videos and images can take a toll on one's mental health.

"I think it's very important for people to pay attention to how they feel," she previously told USA TODAY. "It's very normal to feel shocked, anxious, sad, disgusted, and those are all very, very normal feelings."

Because witnessing violence can be so distressing, Del Toro said she urges extreme caution before watching violent footage or just not watching at all.

"We need to be very mindful and aware of how these videos can affect us," Del Toro said. "Sometimes we don't really know how much it's going to affect us until we're watching it."

It's OK to set boundaries with social media and the news

Staying informed is important. But that doesn't mean you have to witness horrific acts of violence in detail.

If you do choose to bear witness, take care to be sure you're not growing numb to what you see.

"The repeated posting of graphic images can lead to desensitization and dehumanization, where people become numb to what they are watching, stop seeing victims as individuals who have lives and families and stop caring," Sarah Parkinson, assistant professor of political science and international studies at Johns Hopkins University, previously told USA TODAY.

It's OK to take a break from social media, too − even if you're a news junkie. Kristen Harrison, Richard Cole Eminent Professor at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, suggested turning off notifications on social media and news apps can help you to set boundaries with the news cycle.

If you want to share news, do so carefully, Harrison added. She recommends putting a link to an article or video in a caption or comment rather than sharing the sensitive content itself, allowing your followers to opt in if they want to see more.

Contributing: Leora Arnowitz, David Oliver, Nicole Fallert, Melissa Galbraith N'dea Yancey-Bragg, Joey Garrison, Josh Meyer, Aysha Bagchi, Dinah Voyles Pulver, Bart Jansen, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, Michael Loria, Thao Nguyen

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The horrific Charlie Kirk video spread fast. How did we get so desensitized to violence?

Reporting by Charles Trepany, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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