“I feel like social media doesn’t allow people from marginalised communities to use it just for fun. All the hate propagated through social media forces us to share or do certain things and we are never able to use the platform for fun,” says Divya Kandukuri, writer, anti-caste activist and co-founder of The Blue Dawn, a mental health support group for people from marginalised communities. “Though it may seem trivial, there is this constant pressure to be active and put our point across. Online and offline activism go hand in hand, and I feel the lines get blurred sometimes.”

Activism ‘burnout’ is real. Constant engagement with social and political issues, particularly on social media platforms that are known to be fickle, brings in multiple vexing challenges. ‘Troll’ culture, hate speech in terms of triggering comments, obnoxious direct messages, hashtags meant to demean a community and indirect attacks in the form of censorship are only a few. All of these impact the mental wellbeing of young activists who are at the receiving end and often find it hard to switch off.