Social media-based activism has not only prevailed, but has become a dominant form and method of advocacy in the last decade, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. Although social media and online activism have and continue to face criticism for its elements of performance and lack of longevity; it also has a lot of benefits. Social media and online activism have micro-level impacts by normalizing different ideas and opening the conversation between families, peers, etc. regarding different social justice related topics. Social media-based activism is also beneficial to social movements on a macro-scale, as it is used as a tool to form and communicate about mass-organizations and demonstrations. A primary example of this is how the murder of George Floyd first gained awareness due to a video being uploaded to social media, which resulted in the mass signing of a petition to arrest the police officer responsible for his death, Derek Chauvin. This further mobilized the Black Lives Matter movement with a spike in mass demonstrations, which sparked more conversation and advocacy against racial profiling and anti-Black police brutality.
A prominent feature of using social media as a tool for activism is its ability to provide a voice to individuals who have previously had their voices repressed by traditional Western news media outlets. This has been seen with social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram providing a voice to those facing oppression, especially individuals located in the Global South. For instance, traditional news media sources primarily accessed by individuals in Western countries have often reported on national and international conflicts and crises in ways that reflect the perspectives of dominant and wealthy political actors. Some western and international news media outlets have been critiqued and exposed for relying heavily on government-affiliated sources, which can shape public understanding and lead audiences in Western countries to develop one-sided perspectives on complex regional and global issues. However, with the emergence of social media-based activism and journalism, marginalized communities and countries, have been able to provide firsthand accounts of the human right violations that they have been facing.
However, as a result social media (depending on one’s algorithm) is constantly relaying videos and information about various social and humanitarian issues. Although, this is a good aspect, in terms of spreading information and becoming more educated on different issues, which is incredibly important for people who are passionate about advocacy – such as myself – it also creates what is often called ‘information overload,’ otherwise known as an infodemic. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an infodemic is an overabundance of information (both accurate and inaccurate information) that results in feelings of overwhelm, fatigue, anger, hopelessness, and other negative/distressing emotions. Moreover, the negative emotional states caused by information overload are further exacerbated by experiences of poverty, marginalization, and trauma. Information overload not only affects one’s psychological well-being, but it also impacts decision-making skills, especially in relation to one’s material (time, education, money, health, tech, and safety) and social (roles, status, histories, and norms) constraints and affordances. To avoid or minimize the impacts of information overload it is essential to adjust how the information is shared on social media, and one’s own personal boundary setting and self-care.
Information spread on social media needs to consider people’s various social and material constraints and affordances to be effective and receptive. Another way to minimize information overload from social media-based activism is limiting the amount of jargon within a post as people are less likely to be receptive or accepting of information if they do not understand what is actually being relayed or feel as those information is coming from someone/people who view themselves as superior. Activists/journalists must ensure that they are using credible sources or clearly proving their claims with evidence to increase trustworthiness to minimize information overload. Finally, it is essential that social media-based activism provides clarity on actions that need to take place in response to information learned to avoid feelings of helplessness that often takes place from knowing and having access to a lot of information but feeling like there is not anything that can be done.
Activism in of itself can also have several tolls on one’s mental and emotional health and well-being due to the amount of emotional investment, courage, and energy that is required, this is exacerbated from pre-existing mental challenges, trauma, marginalization, and information overload (intersects with the aforementioned). Therefore, it is essential to build emotional resilience through boundary setting and practicing intentional and mindful self-care to ensure that one’s activism can be long-term. Practices that can assist with this are knowing and setting limits for oneself, this can take the form of choosing a certain number of causes to primarily focus energy into actively advocating for (e.g. choosing three social issues to actively spend time researching and joining demonstrations for) or it can take the form of time-blocking when one is going to participate in advocacy. Another important practice to implement to prevent burnout and become better equipped against information overload is doing different grounding exercises (naming emotions, breathing exercises, stretching, etc.) after intaking distressing and/or violent information. Overall, the best way to emotionally care for oneself while still participating in activism is understanding that activism cannot and should not be ‘all or nothing.’ It is not only unhealthy but also ineffective to force oneself to watch every single video and participate in every single advocacy event, as it leads to burnout and eventually a decrease or complete stop of activism. At the end of day, it is better to do a little bit of something consistently, than to do everything for a small amount of time.
This blog was written by Andriana Semeniuc
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