Disturbing videos from the assassination of Charlie Kirk have been circulating online, leaving many parents worried about how such graphic content may affect their children.

Children's Health psychologist Nicholas Westers said while social media offers benefits, it also presents serious risks—especially for young users.

"In terms of social media and parents' concerns, I think there is a lot to be concerned about," said Westers. "Being exposed to certain content online or on social media can trigger these algorithms to feed thinking that we want more of it, and it'll send more and more, and kids might not be aware of that."

Four ways kids may respond

Westers said children typically react to violent content in one of four ways:

• A resilient response, where they recognize the content is harmful and choose to avoid it.
• A trauma or stress-related response, which may cause emotional or behavioral changes.
• A habituated response, where repeated exposure leads to normalization.
• An over-identification response, which Westers said is the most troubling.

"Probably the least common and most concerning would be an over-identification response," he said. "When individuals, including children or adolescents, see videos of violence in which they identify with a perpetrator or perpetrator's motive... they may also feel habituated to this, have a subjugated response, and then also identify with the perpetrator and think that this is something that maybe they could feel justified in doing because of similar grievances."

Start conversations, not just restrictions

Westers said instead of simply telling children not to watch graphic content, parents should ask why they want to watch it—and use that as a starting point for deeper conversations.

"Engaging in self-reflection and saying, 'What is it that I'm drawn into this?'" he said. "And then I think, parents, once you have this conversation with your child, you open it up to family values, talking to them about who they are as a person."

Model healthy digital habits

When violent content is trending, Westers said it's important to talk about it rather than avoid the topic. He also recommends social media breaks—and that parents model the same behavior.

"Being able to read and constructively criticize what they're reading and correct any misperceptions is going to be really important in developing healthy children with healthy digital habits," he said.