Mental health is everything, and it affects everything we do—from how we show up in relationships to how we show up for ourselves. When your mental health is good, you feel calmer, clearer, and more prepared to tackle anything that comes your way. But if your mental health is rocky and you’re not feeling too hot, literally nothing feels right.
The truth is, prioritizing your mental health isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. And, as much as we hate to admit it, bubble baths and face masks aren’t a cure-all. (They are FANTASTIC for a little self-care night, though!). Mental health is more about being open and honest about what’s chipping away at your peace. And we don’t know about you guys, but there’s one thing in particular that’s been weighing us down: Cancel culture.
We’ve covered the pros and cons of cancel culture before, but it’s time to break down barriers and dive deep. Today, we’re exploring the impacts of cancel culture on mental health and how it can get toxic AF. Even if you don’t realize it at first, the effects of cancel culture can cut deep and stick around in more ways than one. Let’s talk about it.
Why Is Cancel Culture Bad for Mental Health? Let’s Unpack
Before we explore the negative mental health effects of cancel culture, it helps to understand what it is at its core. The term gets thrown around on social media platforms so often these days, and it’s… misunderstood and misused, to say the least.
What started as an opportunity to hold people accountable for their actions has transformed into a toxic one-off excuse to hate, bully, and dogpile. Once you know what exactly cancel culture is and how it started, you can understand how truly damaging it is. Without the trendy jokes and subtle explanations, it’s time to get serious. What exactly is cancel culture?
What Is Cancel Culture?
At its core, cancel culture refers to public backlash after someone does or says something considered offensive or unacceptable. It could be your favorite influencer, a prominent figure, or just someone who randomly went viral. Ultimately, the internet gets wind of what was done wrong and decides that person’s time to shine is over. No excuses, no apologies, no explanation—just lights out and shows over. This usually results in things like mass-unfollowings, public shaming, or straight-up social isolation.
The initial goal of cancel culture was to highlight social justice and hold people accountable. Most importantly, it was to call out people in power who weren’t facing the consequences of their harmful actions. Sounds like the right thing to do, right? But, according to the Pew Research Center, current opinions of the term “cancel culture” are much more divided now than they were before.
Some view it as an effective way to give people the chance to learn from their mistakes. On the flip side, others view it as an infringement of free speech. Over the years, the term gained traction but lost value—now it just feels like a rush to silence and shame. Ironically, cancel culture punishes people accountable for their actions, even if they HAVE made the effort to learn and grow.
The vibes turn really messy, really fast. And fine, we’ll be the ones to say it—cancel culture isn’t so much about justice anymore as it is performance. It sucks all the empathy out of the room and leaves behind judgment, hate, and full-on emotional warfare.
Now that you’ve gotten a little history lesson, let’s explore the mental health effects of cancel culture. Trust us, it affects people more than you may think.
How Does Cancel Culture Affect Mental Health?
Constant Fear of Messing Up
One of the worst aspects of cancel culture is the fear of messing up. We were all taught that making mistakes is how we learn, right? Instead, now we’re scared to mess up in fear that we won’t bounce back from it. That feeling of walking on eggshells is STRESSFUL, no matter who you are or what you did.
We’re always in the back of our minds fearful of saying or doing the wrong thing—completely unintentionally. And if you haven’t realized it yet, that level of hyper-awareness is no joke! Aside from being mentally exhausting, it’s also a breeding ground for anxiety.
Check out the “Designer Bags and Death Threats” episode from De-Influenced to hear more on cancel culture effects.
Public Shaming and Humiliation
When someone gets canceled, we all know it’s not just a quiet ritual—it’s loud, public, and hard to miss. Comment sections turn vicious, DMs are flooded with threats, and now one of the worst moments of a person’s life pops up everywhere they turn.
But here’s the truth: if someone does something wrong, constantly condemning them isn’t beneficial for anybody. It also doesn’t suffice as a good enough reason to shut them off from society as a whole. Humiliation on this big of a scale can lead to depression, isolation, and sometimes suicidal thoughts, and nobody deserves that.
Lack of Room for Growth
Cancel culture honestly leaves ZERO room for accidents, apologies, and true accountability. Even if someone does apologize, there will always be those people who refuse to accept it and move on. Instead of giving space for growth, cancel culture goes straight to eternal punishment.
This black-and-white thinking is sooo harmful—and not just to the person getting canceled! That strict “bad person versus good person” mindset completely shifts how someone processes emotion. People who view things in an all-or-nothing light experience intensified emotions, low self-esteem, and emotional reactivity—who wants that? As a result, people are scared to ask the tough questions and have those hard conversations—all things we need for personal growth.
An Abundance of Emotional Fatigue
Even if you’re not the one getting canceled, just watching it is emotionally draining. Social media goes from a place where you can relax and unwind to a social battlefield. One wrong move and you, someone you know, or someone you follow is at risk of getting totally exiled.
It’s draining, exhausting, overwhelming—you get the gist. It creates an anxious, judgment-heavy vibe and threatens that safe space feeling. Plus, constant exposure to cancellations results in serious compassion fatigue, and we only have so much to give!
Speaking of, if you feel overwhelmed and are having a hard time giving yourself a break, check out: “Signs You Need a Mental Health Day.” Emotional burn out is real—give your brain some time off before you reach that point.
Loss of Individual Voices
Mob mentality—the idea that everyone just sticks together in an opinion without thinking for themselves—is SO toxic. And dare we say that it’s worse now than ever before? Sooo many people jump on this hate bandwagon and are ready to go full steam ahead. And if we know anything about herd mentality, it’s that it comes at the cost of sacrificing independent thought.
Instead of going against the grain, people decide to blend in because it’s safe. With this mindset, how will anything EVER change? Self-abandonment can seriously mess with your self-worth, confidence, and emotional well-being.
For more, check out the episode The World’s First Podcast, titled “A Little Solo and a Little Guest.”
How To Deal With Cancel Culture
Set boundaries with social media.
When it comes to reducing the effects of cancel culture on mental health, the best thing you can do is spend less time on social media. Point blank period. Create some space between you and the chaos and connect back to the real world.
Even if you don’t wanna hop off of social media altogether, draw a few lines in the sand. Unfollow drama accounts, mute certain keywords, or limit your scroll time. Digital boundaries are just as important as real ones.
Start prioritizing nuance over noise.
When a new person is getting canceled each week, DON’T let yourself follow the crowd. Before you align yourself with the popular opinion, take some time and research what’s actually going on. See what happened, how the person responded, and what the context may be.
Break the stigma by asking the important questions and keeping empathy as your baseline. Not only will this reduce guilt down the line (because it always happens), but it keeps you grounded. And we don’t mean grounded in the crowd’s values, but grounded in YOUR values—which is more important anyway.
Nobody knows how to prioritize nuance like our girl Whitney Cummings. Just check out “Whitney Cummings: From Stand-Up to Real-Talk” on Not Skinny But Not Fat to see what we mean!
Practice self-compassion even when you mess up.
Like we said before, guilt isn’t far behind cancellations. It’s easy to get swept up in the moment and dogpile because it’s “what everyone else is doing.” Remember, these are REAL people, with real lives, and real feelings.
What matters is how you respond and whether you follow through with the hate. And when you do, leave room for self-compassion. Don’t spiral into shame, just do better next time. (Because unfortunately, there will always be a next time.)
For more on self-compassion and understanding, check out the top mental health podcasts! You deserve a little healthy dose of reassurance.
Create spaces for genuine conversations.
If we eliminate all those hard discussions and iffy topics, how are we supposed to learn what’s right and wrong? As a society, we ALL need to be better about not shutting down the things that feel hard to talk about. Otherwise, we risk punishing people for things never openly discussed—missing the opportunity to educate, clarify, and promote real change.
Encourage honest and thoughtful conversations. That means active listening, asking questions, and giving yourself (and everyone else) a chance to evolve. This step in the right direction may feel small at first, but it has a domino effect for future circumstances.
Wanna hear the perfect example of how to do this? Check out this episode of Almost Adulting.
Curate your feed with intention.
We all know those phrases, “You are what you eat,” and “You are who you hang out with.” But did you know this mindset also applies to what you consume on both social and traditional media? If your feed is full of negative, biased, angry people… you know how that’s gonna affect your headspace.
We aren’t telling you to completely clean house—just take a more mindful approach. Follow people who show empathy but set standards. People who take no BS but also leave room for growth. Consider your feed like a mental table—who do you want sitting with you?
You heard it here first—cancel culture is officially cancelled.
Cancel culture can feel like a slippery slope, but it doesn’t have to be! Holding people accountable and letting them learn and grow, contrary to popular belief, can coexist. We’ve all done, said, or contributed to something that could be deemed “cancel-worthy”, but were fortunately given grace and understanding. Why don’t we hold that same space for everyone else, too?
Don’t forget to check out the Dear Media blog for all things pop culture, love, and health and wellness. We talk about EVERYTHING over here, no holds barred. And, check out the DM shop for all of the newest, must-have products. This “Be Kind” tote bag needs to be in your cart ASAP. Be the change you want to see!
Leave a Reply