Compassion Fatigue: Why you may be experiencing it and what you can do about it
What is compassion fatigue?
Collectively, we’ve been experiencing emotional exhaustion and burnout through the COVID-19 pandemic. It can seem as though 2020 is an unyielding onslaught of terrible news. Even if you’ve never heard of compassion fatigue, you’ve probably experienced it.
The Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project describes compassion fatigue as: “a broadly defined concept that can include emotion, physical and spatial distress. [..] It is associated with caregiving where people are experiencing significant emotion or physical pain and suffering.”
Image source: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Symptoms of Compassion Fatigue
Compassion fatigue can show up in a variety of mental and physical changes. These symptoms may be more pronounced if you are a trauma survivor.
Here are 5 symptoms of compassion fatigue identified by the American Institute of Stress:
1.) Disturbance in normal sleep habits
2.) Depression
3.) Easily angered
4.) Existential despair
5.) Apathy and loss of hope
How Has Compassion Fatigue Manifested on Social Media in Relation to Black Lives Matter?
Typically, the term compassion fatigue solely describes the emotional burden of caregivers and medical personnel. But many active social media users are experiencing compassion fatigue in connection to the Black Lives Matter movement.
I’ve noticed it in comments, reposted Instagram stories, Facebook groups and other corners of social media among White users and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) alike.
So, how exactly does this show up on our newsfeeds? Compassion fatigue is manifesting on social media in three similar, yet distinct ways:
1.) Feed Fatigue
2.) Slacktivism
3.) Performative Allyship
Feed Fatigue
You can experience feed fatigue on any given day; it’s simply the overconsumption of content and media. The infinite scroll can provide inspiration, but our never-ending newsfeeds can often leave us feeling depressed.
Social media users can feel a particular anxiety-ridden overwhelm when there’s a global shift happening. As with COVID-19, Black Lives Matter and the current highly partisan political dynamic. It can quickly become too much. Lulu Garcia-Navarro explains the addictiveness of negative news, “Still, you incessantly scroll though bottomless doom-and-gloom news for hours as you sink into a pool of despair.”
Emma Betuel explains current feed fatigue well in this Inverse article: “Crises can become overwhelming on social media. But when faced with the crisis of police violence and racism, turning away isn’t an option for [BIPOC] Americans.”
Slacktivism
Feed fatigue often leads to a newly-coined term: Slacktivism. This is when people support a political cause only on social media or via online petitions; therefore, enabling actions that involve very little effort, genuine self-education or commitment.
Performative Allyship
Right now, if someone is practicing slacktivism, it usually manifests as performative allyship in which there’s a “performance” aspect to the ally’s action which tends to serve as its own reward. Holiday Philips breaks down the concept in a recent blog post:
“Performative allyship, […] is when those same people profess their support and solidarity with a marginalized group in a way that isn’t helpful or actively harms that group.
Performative allyship usually involves the ‘ally’ receiving some kind of reward, in the case of social media the virtual pat on the back you receive for being a good person.”
You may have realized you fall into one of these categories while experiencing compassion fatigue. That’s okay. The despair we’re experiencing is especially heightened against the backdrop of the pandemic. The best ways to combat compassion fatigue is to take action, practice self care and unplug from your newsfeed.
How to Address Compassion Fatigue
Start addressing your compassion fatigue by committing to being an active ally, described by Michelle Kim as:
“Allyship is an active and consistent practice of using power and privilege to achieve equity and inclusion while holding ourselves accountable to marginalized people’s needs.™”
True allyship doesn’t seek recognition from an audience. Take action in real life, instead of reposting, sharing, commenting and liking.
As Ijeoma Oluo wrote in So You Want To Talk About Race, “Many people are afraid to talk about race, just as many use talk to hide from what they really fear: action.” (227)
Ways to Practice Anti-RacismEducate yourself on systemic white supremacy and intersectionality. The Great Unlearn is a good place to start.
Read books, watch documentaries, listen to podcasts and consume content about historic and modern-day racism. Learning, recognizing and confronting your own biases is a powerful step to dismantling systemic white supremacy.
Call out racism and performative allyship.
If you’re a people-pleaser (like me), then it’s time to get uncomfortable. Whether someone says a racist joke or constantly “brags” about their anti-racism work, confront them. You can ask them to consider the consequences of their words or actions.
Attend local government meetings to voice concerns.
The best way to enact change is to start local. Write, email and call your local representatives about inequality. Is there a town hall happening? Maybe over Zoom? Attend it and ask questions.
Practice Self Care
When you incorporate self care into your daily routine, you become dedicated to preventing burnout. Be proactive and prevent a future episode of compassion fatigue.
Here are 4 ways to practice authentic and sustainable self care:
1) Identify signs that you are experiencing compassion fatigue.
2) Audit your social media consumption.
3) Regulate your content intake going forward.
4) Talk to a therapist.
Unplug From Social Media
Unplugging from social media is an important way to practice self care. By attending to your mental health, you’ll naturally increase your resiliency and thus fight for the long haul. Remind yourself: you can and will affect real change through small actions.
Stasi Grenfell, an active participant of the Black Lives Matter movement, wrote about the need to spend time off of social media. She ended the post declaring an official sign off for the time being.
As Ijeoma Oluo explains in So You Want To Talk About Race, “You don’t always win the fight at first, but small actions add up, especially when you don’t give up.” (236)
“This is not a moment, it’s the movement.” We can only dismantle systemic white supremacy step by step.
Just remember—If you’re experiencing compassion fatigue, then:
Unplug from social media, don’t unplug from the movement.
