Week 12 critical reflection post

All of the readings this week focused on digital activism and the mental health, engagement and political implications of activism done via social media. They showed that social media offers great tools for collective action and visibility but this comes with psychological costs, especially for marginalized groups. The main finding of the Marshall et al (2024) was that higher engagement with BLM posts was linked to higher trauma symptoms, depression and anxiety, especially with users of racial minorities. It showed that black participants had increased negative mental health associations and most of these participants did not discuss BLM in therapy even when deeply affected. This raises major concerns about racial trauma not being addressed and reminded me of earlier discussions in weeks 8-10 about how identity relevant content can re-traumatise users. The Estrella-Ramon et al. (2024) focused on #fridaysforfuture twitter posts and which message features got the most engagement. It showed that: posts by icon influences, videos/images + hashtags, COVID related climate content and content posted during business hours were factors for high engagement. This emphasized that message design is very important for sustaining long-term activism online. This was helpful for understanding how strategy affects impact and had some ties to last weeks discussions on compulsion vs intention. The Subramanian & Weare (2022) also analysed hashtags surrounding Trumps sexual assault comments. Analyzing the creating of digital storytelling becoming a counter narrative to rape supportive culture. I found this reading emotional as it linked well with discussions from I think week 6 and 9 and how digital platforms amplify survivors voices despite risks of trolling and impacts on the individuals mental health. The takeaways for me this week were that digital activism = visibility + vulnerability and reinforced that participating in online movements comes with an emotional cost especially for those impacted by the issues. It brings up further thoughts about how platforms should do a better job at protecting activists and I think future work should build bridges between mental health services and activism and that therapists should be trained to discuss these kinds of things with their clients also how to start movements that engage members consistently without burning out the people involved.