My best friend and I started an online support group for our shared health condition three years ago and it's grown to over 800 members, but now we're burning out from moderating and some members are getting hostile when we try to set boundaries, and we can't agree on whether to shut it down or hand it over to someone else. She thinks we owe it to the community to keep going no matter what, but I'm starting to resent how much of our friendship has become about managing other people's crises.
More people experience this than they realize.
The weight of digital care work is straining both the friendship and their individual wellbeing, while competing visions of responsibility create an impossible bind.
“Where Are You with Online community — its gifts and limits?”
Peri can explain why this happens, help you decide if this is the right situation for you, and point toward the right journey or coach.
If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.