Media experts: Take care of your mental health to fight cancel culture and trolling

Madeleen Saguid

Philstar.com reporter Xave Gregorio and UST Faculty of Arts and Letters guidance

counselor Maika Nicolas discuss the implications of cancel culture in journalism and mental

health in a webinar titled “Respeto Naman: A Webinar on People’s Boundaries in Media.”

Amid the proliferation of cancel culture and trolling, media practitioners must keep their

mental health in check to ensure their service to the public, journalist Xave Gregorio and

guidance counselor Maika Nicolas said in an online lecture on March 24.

The lecture, hosted by the University of Santo Tomas Journalism Society and titled “Respeto

Naman: A Webinar on People’s Boundaries in Media,” advocated for a safer digital environment

when engaging in online discourse.

According to Nicolas, cancel culture refers to the removal or "canceling" of a person,

organization, product, brand, or anything else due to a problem that a community or group

disapproves of, finds offensive, or violates social norms. She added that cancel culture is a

response to perceived informal, largely unwritten social norms that lack a clear definition.

“Kung ikaw may na-violate na value sa isang group, pwede ka ma-cancel and that’s the sad part

kasi hindi mo nga alam [kung anong na-violate mo],” she said.

People who are often exposed to cancel culture can also feel ostracized from society and may

experience higher levels of anxiety and depression, Nicolas, a guidance counselor at the

Faculty of Arts and Letters, said.

Some people even question whether they should truly express themselves. “Instead of saying

how they feel, they chose to be silent,” she said.

Cancel culture in relation to journalism, on the other hand, can be tied to trolling, which poses a

bigger problem in society according to Philstar.com journalist Gregorio.

This issue is more prevalent today with the rise of the disinformation economy, as the motivation

of trolls surpasses values and beliefs, and some of them “only do it for the money,” Gregorio

said.

“It’s a serious allegation… This is actually debilitating, emotionally scarring, and puts journalists’

lives in danger,” he said.

“Iba yung sakit na mararamdaman mo pag ikaw ang na attack personally even though you’re

just doing your job,” he added.

Additionally, according to Gregorio, cancel culture is not always successful and can even boost

people’s careers.

One example Gregorio cited is the Marcos family coming back into power 37 years after the

EDSA revolution. He questioned whether cancel culture really works.

“It is a cancellation, and I’m using it as a loose term, that we have never seen before,” he said.

In light of these difficulties, Nicolas and Gregorio talked about how reporters can adapt and

avoid cancel culture by caring for their mental health and understanding that people come from

various backgrounds.

“Tao rin tayo, nagpapahinga din. Take time to practice good mental health hygiene; at the end

of the day, we have a public service to do,” Gregorio said.

“Our different backgrounds [have] all made us view life differently, and I am hoping that by

knowing this, it [will] prevent you from being cancelled,” Nicolas said.