Diving into "Anchored" by Deb Dana. Just wow. Ever read a nonfiction book and feel in your body what you're learning about? Highly recommend. #polyvagal #TraumaIformedCare #neuroscience

#introduction

#enby Semi-retired #barista #MC and #tarot reader.

Aspiring #voiceactor #standupcomedy performer.

#Stroke survivor

#Motorcycle #sailing #cinema and #photography enthusiast.

Practicing #magick #shibari #wingchun #escrima #juggling & #Mandarin while studying #polyvagal and #somatic approaches to therapy.

Involved in #antifacist #poly and #kink communities. #604

When you are in a situation where you have no agency, you are limited in your ability to change harmful circumstances that are happening to you. You feel trapped because you basically are. So you resort to actions that facilitate survival in such an environment- loudly protesting (fight response), hiding in ways that you can (flight response, though freedom of movement is often restricted), do nothing and feel shut down, defeated (freeze response) or appeasing the powers to try to get them to treat you better (fawn response).

In corporate, hierarchical social media, just like what a child in an abusive household experiences, users lack agency to change the environment.

So we shouldn't be surprised when people who come here from there, instead of taking steps to change their environment in ways that they now can, just complain loudly or defend twitter. They are reacting in ways that people do when they are used to having no agency. Honestly, long-term Masto users do this too, because it's not just in social media where our agnecy get stifled, but in all of the capitalist relations that engulf us.

For abuse survivors, such as myself, there is a long healing process that takes time to be learned in the body. You may cognitively understand that you are in a different place, things are ok now, but it doesn't register in your body and emotional response. It takes practice and reassurance to slowly develop new neural pathways that aren't so reactive or fearful. This is the work of #somatics/ #embodied / #polyvagal practices. I'm no expert in those fields but find those bodies of knowledge to be incredibly applicable beyond individual healing & therapy.

How can we help empower users to step into their own agency and understand the ways in which they can control their user experience, voice their concerns, and create actual change? Are the channels in which change takes place easily understood and laid out for users? Are all users able to voice their input for how this place works? Not just in culture but also in app/interface functionality? (I'm not the most tech savvy so excuse my imperfect terminology.)