School starts at 8:20 a.m. Many students find themselves sitting in their cars, trying to make the most of their last few minutes of peace. They scroll through their “for-you pages” to chill, but often they encounter anything but “chill” content. Wars, tragedies, murders, death and breaking news, all mixed with memes, overload their minds during what should be a relaxing moment. Naturally, as humans, we want to care about these things; it is one aspect of what we think makes us “good.” But have you ever asked yourself: How are we supposed to care about everything, all the time?
The simple truth is that we cannot. Constant exposure and constant caring lead to what is known as compassion fatigue, which is exactly what it sounds like. After seeing multiple tragic headlines at once, it is impossible to feel the same compassion and emotion towards all of them, and eventually, we start to feel numb. This does not mean we are heartless, but rather we are overwhelmed with constant exposure to suffering. News, social media and instant updates keep our minds in a never-ending spiral of desensitization.
Humans are not evolved to know everything, all the time. We evolved to care for small communities, not millions of strangers. Even looking back a few generations, the core of society was family, town, school and community. Compared to today’s world, such a style of life is considered outdated. We are constantly supplied with real-time global awareness, compared to our ancestors’ communal style of living. For example, two kids from different generations are worrying about an exam they have the next day. The kid from the past generation is simply focused on his exam, worrying about what is physically present in his life, while the kid from the present generation is worrying about the exam, along with all of the global crises he just saw on his phone. This is not natural; humans are not designed for non-stop global empathy, but rather communal and face-to-face empathy.
This overload leads to performative empathy: public displays of concern that do not lead to any real action or change. Opening social media right now, it would not be uncommon to see reposts, hashtags or shared awareness on global or national events. But in reality, these actions do not serve any real purpose or cause. Many do it under social pressures, wanting to appear caring, or out of fear of remaining silent. Being aware is not objectively an issue, but we must ask ourselves the real question: How can awareness transfer into true impact? Sure, learning about an issue can be helpful, but reposting and forgetting about it seconds later will not make a difference. For most, true impact can be made at the local level.
We must return to our real-life community circles. For many youth, online connections have replaced face-to-face relationships, and the same holds for empathy and compassion. But the truth is the strongest forms of empathy are formed between friends, classmates, neighbors and family, or in other words, real relationships. Some people may care more about distant events rather than the person they are sitting next to. We are too focused on the global scale of issues that we may not even notice our struggling friend at school. Online empathy and connections have replaced true community connections.
Much of the younger generations have become completely desensitized to what they see online, which has led to emotional numbness and burnout. Think about how one’s offline grandparents may react to a tragedy that they see. It would be rare, shocking and deeply emotional. That same tragedy that they might talk about for days, we most likely scrolled past with no reaction whatsoever. This contrast highlights another truth: repetition does not make us stronger, but simply makes us numb.
When we spread ourselves too thin, it weakens our genuine care. What is the solution to such a broad issue? The fact is that real impact usually happens close to home. We must close our social networks and instead focus on what is reachable, the way it used to always be. Support your friends, volunteer in your community and be present with your family. The underlying idea is that we must emphasize the quality of care over quantity. We do not have to carry the weight of the world to make a difference in a small corner of it.
Let’s go back to our school morning. As we scroll, we see things that naturally, we want to feel compassion for. But the fact is that compassion is something that grows in real relationships, not online. To make a true impact, we must all ask ourselves this question: Who in our personal lives needs us right now?
