There was a time when war meant fear.

Now it means notifications.

An explosion flashes across the screen.
Missiles. Retaliation. Counter-strike.
We watch. We share. We argue.
Then we scroll to the next video.

The war does not stop.
Only our attention does.

When the news comes every hour, suffering begins to feel ordinary.
Once, hearing that people had died would make us pause.
Now we measure tragedy in numbers.

10 people.
50 people.
500 people.

As the numbers rise, our emotions shrink.

Maybe we are not cruel.
Maybe we are tired.

There was a time when a distant war felt distant.
Now it enters our feed instantly.
But the problem is this:

Anything that lives in a feed doesn’t live for long.

Has our empathy become algorithm-driven?

The stories that trend feel more important.
The videos that go viral feel more real.

What happens to the rest of the pain?

We take sides.
We defend.
We debate.

But rarely do we stop and ask—
Who was the person on the other side?

Someone’s child.
Someone’s parent.
Someone’s unfinished dream.

War is political.
Death is always personal.

The most frightening part is not the explosions.

It’s the way we slowly get used to them.

Without hearing the blast,
we still become numb.

Maybe our humanity doesn’t disappear overnight.
Maybe it erodes quietly, one headline at a time.

The fire of war burns far away.
But the ash settles inside us.

So here is the question—

Are we watching war,
or are we slowly losing our ability to feel?

As War News Increases, Does Our Humanity Decrease?

Al Alif