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Call-out culture is intended as a more humane response to cancel culture, which is when a person is “canceled,” or publicly shamed in a potentially permanent way, for their actions.

Public shaming is nothing new. Just think of brandishing adulterers with a scarlet letter, tarring and feathering, or exile. All those punishments were designed to humiliate and isolate a person whom others decided had done wrong.

In the age of social media, these punishments come in the form of verbal shaming instead of physical. Nowadays, call-out culture usually refers to individuals telling one another that they have done something wrong on social media or in the press. While this strategy is less harmful overall, it is still a challenging thing to navigate when the goal is walking the line between healthy accountability and cancel culture. We’ll explore some healthy responses and approaches to this trend.

At a Glance

Call-out culture has become embedded into our society, and it isn’t likely to go away any time soon. A more moderate version of cancel culture, it occurs when we tell others, usually publicly, how we believe their actions are wrong or harmful. It has the benefit of creating change, and the downside of adding stress to our daily lives.

Examples of Call-Out Culture

Call-out culture occurs with both famous and non-famous people, but it’s easier to track with famous ones. “We see many examples of call-out and cancel culture in popular media, especially among celebrities,” explainsDr. Patrice Le Goy, a psychologist, and LMFT. She notes that “we have seen several participants in reality shows share how their experiences or the way they were portrayed on their shows having had extremely negative consequences on their real lives.”

When my episode aired in 2014, hundreds of people took to Twitter (now X) to say horrible, hateful things about me and to me directly. No matter how much I replied that I hadn’t actually said any of the statements the show edited me into saying, no one believed me.

Le Goy notes that “reality show participants have noted that having people “come for them” on social media when they don’t really know them or have a full understanding of their character has led to them experiencing depression and anxiety.” This makes perfect sense: The world is seeing an edited, intentionally dislikeable version of you, and you have no power to convince viewers that the person they’re viewing isn’t actually how you are as a human.

Call-out culture can also be offline and personal. In progressive circles, people who work for nonprofits are often considered very quick to attack others for not being politically astute or active enough. This in turn can lead people to feeling stressed whenever they engage with others, always worried they are saying or doing the wrong thing.

The Mental Health Effects of Cancel Culture

Impact of Call-Out Culture

On a larger scale, the feat of being called out when broadened to include so many of us can lead to change occurring in the bigger capacity than it would if we all spoke up more. When you have to worry that any sound bite of what you say will be dissected or used out of context, it makes sense that you’re less inclined to speak. Call-out culture is great for helping us hold others accountable, but it also creates an environment where any of us might be deemed the bad guy at any moment.

The Psychology of Shame

The Power and Pitfalls of Public Shaming

As you may suspect, call-out culture has both benefits and pitfalls.

On the plus side, “we need to grow and change as a society to ensure that we no longer tolerate blatant disrespect and discrimination,' says Le Goy. And on the minus side, she notes that “this has also led to a society where online dialogue (and especially the comment section of articles!) can be very vitriolic and combative.”

Patrice Le Goy, LMFTThe impact is that some people will shy away from speaking up or sharing their opinion because of the concern of backlash. Potentially this can lead to further polarization and less sense of shared values and community

Patrice Le Goy, LMFT

The impact is that some people will shy away from speaking up or sharing their opinion because of the concern of backlash. Potentially this can lead to further polarization and less sense of shared values and community

Call-out culture can be considered necessary because “it is important to hold people accountable when they are being abusive or inappropriate in their language and behavior,” says Le Goy, who adds that “consequences can help others recognize that this type of behavior is not going to be tolerated.”

Of course, there is the concern that what you are calling out isn’t even real, and this is a pretty major pitfall of call-out culture. “The challenge is when people make impulsive judgments about a situation when they may not have all the facts,” says Le Goy.

“If we’re using the example of someone on a reality show, we know that the episodes are heavily edited and that the purpose is to drive ratings.” Call-out culture leads to us jumping to conclusions about others without having the facts, and social media provides us a vehicle to publicly decry others' actions.

Here are five practical strategies for engaging with call-out culture. They’ll help you not call-out others without cause, and also help you deal if you’ve been called out yourself.

Don’t Jump to Conclusions

Whenever you see something upsetting on social media, in the press, or even if a statement a friend makes bothers you, refrain from deciding you have the whole story before you actually do. “Taking a step back and not being impulsive in our judgment of others is a useful tactic in navigating call-out culture,” suggests Le Goy.

Pause

Before replying to a post or telling your friend their comment was a problem, give yourself a moment to calm down. When we get angry, we’re likely to act impulsively, and we may say something cruel that we don’t mean.

Rather than lash out immediately, do some research. Make sure you know all the facts of a situation before you tell someone else that you don’t approve of their actions.

Listen

If you’ve been called out, don’t dismiss the person doing it. Instead, ingest what they’ve said and take the time to look into whether it has merit.

If you want to call someone out, first take some time to learn about their history ; you may discover quickly that the excerpted action you saw on tv isn’t at all representative of who someone is.

Invest in Learning

No one isperfect. We simply can’t be, and we can’t expect others to be. But wecanalways be learning and bettering ourselves. Studying how to communicate effectively, learning more about other cultures you appreciate, and really taking the time to understand others can prevent calling someone out without cause and can also facilitate an honest, decent response when called out oneself.

Respond With Thought

Once you’re calm and have all the facts, make sure that others know you aren’t just speaking from a place of raw emotion or dismissiveness. If you’re calling out someone else, engage with them respectfully and remember that people you see in the media are no less human than you are. And if you’ve been called out, don’t make the situation worse with an apology you clearly don’t mean. “It is also important for people, especially those in the public eye, to be aware that they need to be mindful and respectful in how they react to different situations and that there may be consequences if they are not,” notes Le Goy.

Keep in Mind

How Groupthink Impacts Our Behavior

2 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Vogels E, Anderson M, Porteus M, et al.Americans and ‘cancel culture’: Where some see calls for accountability, others see censorship, punishment. Pew Research Center.Blair RJR.The neurobiology of impulsive aggression.J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2016;26(1):4-9.

2 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Vogels E, Anderson M, Porteus M, et al.Americans and ‘cancel culture’: Where some see calls for accountability, others see censorship, punishment. Pew Research Center.Blair RJR.The neurobiology of impulsive aggression.J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2016;26(1):4-9.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Vogels E, Anderson M, Porteus M, et al.Americans and ‘cancel culture’: Where some see calls for accountability, others see censorship, punishment. Pew Research Center.Blair RJR.The neurobiology of impulsive aggression.J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2016;26(1):4-9.

Vogels E, Anderson M, Porteus M, et al.Americans and ‘cancel culture’: Where some see calls for accountability, others see censorship, punishment. Pew Research Center.

Blair RJR.The neurobiology of impulsive aggression.J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2016;26(1):4-9.

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