Watching Isn’t Enough: Turning Compassion Fatigue Into Significant Change

There’s a strange cruelty in living through an era where the world’s pain is a click away. People scroll at breakfast through flood maps, conflict videos, refugee camps being destroyed and then — before the coffee cools — a clip of federal agents in tactical gear dispersing protesters outside an ICE facility. 

The constant stream is an emotional load, one psychologists and public-health researchers named compassion fatigue, also known as secondary traumatic stress. 

Originally, compassion fatigue described professionals, like nurses, aid workers or first responders who absorb trauma through repeated exposure to others’ suffering. 

But the digital age has stretched this exposure to everyone.

Researchers now warn constant negative social media consumption can dull empathy, reduce responsiveness and increase avoidance behavior. 

One 2022 study published in Frontiers in Psychology found doomscrolling and overexposure to traumatic imagery online correlate with decreased willingness to take political action and increased psychic numbing. This phenomenon causes people to feel indifferent to the widespread suffering.

This emotional exhaustion has political consequences. 

And the consequences are evident in protests against ICE in Portland, Ore.. What began as civic outrage over federal immigration enforcement has, through empathetic digital documentation — and overexaggeration by the nation’s leaders — turned into what can be labeled the War in Portland. 

Coverage fixated on confrontation rather than cause, creating what media scholars call a feedback loop — a continuous cycle of user interactions influencing content creators and platform algorithms — and when this loop comes full circle on harmful imaging and wrongful platforming, it further perpetuates the aforementioned idea of Portland. 

True online journalists, however, like Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan, are making a difference, covering the events in Portland, and making sure both sides of the story are covered. 

Unfortunately, the documentation meant to hold ICE accountable has often reinforced the perception of chaos, prompting federal justification for heavier policing rather than reform. 

In the case of Portland, federal jurisdiction had to step in front of President Donald Trump, with judges permanently blocking the unnecessary deployment of the National Guard to prevent nonexistent violence. 

In contrast, Chicago’s anti-ICE activism demonstrates the difference actionable documentation can make. 

Local outlets and volunteer journalists are collecting, archiving and using protest footage in legal cases and community support efforts. In fact, the ACLU of Illinois says protesters and journalists are suing federal forces for First Amendment violations at the ICE facility in Broadview. 

Coverage by Poynter, an independent news site, notes journalists in the area faced tear gas, pepper balls and aggressive tactics while documenting the operation, and ABC 7 Chicago reported ICE enforcement has caused direct harm to families, including incidents where young children were affected, highlighting the stakes of local documentation. 

Community networks also play a role. 

City Bureau provides guidance on Know Your Rights and rapid response during ICE Activity, illustrating how citizen journalists and volunteer networks turn documentation into actionable support. WBEZ reports residents are distributing whistles and organizing alerts to signal ICE presence in neighborhoods. 

Volunteer patrols in the suburbs help document raids and guide migrants, and citywide solidarity networks are coordinating mutual aid and rapid-response reporting. 

All of the mentioned networks are independent news organizations or citizen journalists, making a massive difference in the Chicago community and helping make the city safe and stress-free for those at risk during this time. 

So why do two protest movements — both digitally visible — produce such different effects? 

Partly, it’s about what happens to the footage. Media researchers call it mediated follow-through, whether images are used within systems — legal, journalistic or advocative — which can convert them into change, or whether they simply circulate endlessly online. 

When documentation is curated, contextualized and mobilized, it sustains civic engagement. When it’s repeated without direction, it produces emotional burnout and disengagement — a cycle well-documented in research on crisis fatigue.

There’s also a governance angle. 

During the 2020 Portland protests — also covered brilliantly by Andrew Callaghan — the Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement issued statements framing protesters as violent agitators, which bolstered justification for militarized responses. 

In Chicago, however, journalists’ footage and citizen documentation have supported legal challenges and First Amendment protections, demonstrating how documentation can turn a witness into an instrument for justice. 

However, online movements have caused real change and action, like the nationwide No Kings Protest. 

Across the country, more than seven million people attended what was known as the No Kings Protest — with Portland and Chicago hosting more than 300,000 — to voice concerns and anger about widespread injustice and government overreach, all of which was organized online.

Still, demonstrations of this scale reveal a deeper challenge. When people are overwhelmed by constant crises, their ability to care can vanish. 

If compassion fatigue dulls the sense of urgency, the solution isn’t to look away, but to look with intention. 

The danger isn’t of the masses being blind to suffering — it’s the fact they’ve seen too much, too fast and without any path to help. If the feed keeps showing the same flames but no fire exits, numbness becomes inevitable.

What’s left is a challenge for every digital citizen: to turn witnessing into action before compassion turns to ash.