Compassion Fatigue
Noun · Hacker Culture
Definitions
Emotional exhaustion that can develop from repeated exposure to other people's stress, pain, or urgent needs, especially in support or caregiving roles. In tech it often comes up in trust and safety, customer support, and incident-heavy human-response work.
In plain English: Emotional exhaustion from constantly dealing with other people's distress.
Example: "The moderation team rotated sensitive queues more carefully after managers recognized signs of compassion fatigue in people reviewing harmful content every day."