Disrupting Black Death in the Digital: How Black Youth Heal Amidst Algorithmic Racism and Anti-Black Violence With/in Technology

• In Event: Navigating Place and Space in Black Bodies

Abstract

This study examines the socioemotional and mental health consequences of encountering racially traumatizing digital content for 25 Black youth activists. Qualitative interviews illuminated a spectrum of unintended health consequences as a result of encountering viral images of Black death and dying, including anxiety, depression, fatigue, and exhaustion. In order to cope with digitally mediated trauma, the participants enacted a variety of culturally situated and identity-specific healing practices, including restoring the body, the mind, the community, and the soul. We use critical race and Black feminist approaches to healing and technology to offer suggestions and implications.

Authors

• Kelly Mitchell, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Alexis E. Hunter, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Tiera C. Tanksley, University of Colorado - Boulder