Data Healing Workbook

The Data Healing Workbook is a reflective and practical journal created by Nairobi-born writer, artist and guerrilla theorist Neema Githere for those grappling with “FOPO,” or the “Fear of Posting Online.” This 74-page workbook addresses the psychological and emotional challenges of engaging with social media, such as the need for validation, the fear of being misunderstood, and the pressures of online visibility. Inspired by Neema’s own journey navigating social media’s highs and lows, the workbook helps readers reflect on their digital interactions and rethink their relationship with the internet as an attachment-based relationship, much like other personal connections.The workbook offers tools for exploring this connection, including exercises in evaluation, compassion, reflection, inspiration, goal-setting, and strategy. Through mapping exercises, participants can assess how social media affects their emotions, self-perception, and judgment of others. A significant part of the workbook, "Introducing Digital Attachment Styles," explores how people form attachment styles with digital platforms, helping readers understand and potentially reshape their online behaviours.Neema conceptualized Data Healing not only to confront the harms of social media but also to guide users toward liberating themselves from its toxic dynamics by fostering healthier, self-aware online habits. Structured as a living document, the workbook will continue to evolve in response to feedback and ongoing digital shifts, aiming to help users foster intentional, liberating practices both online and offline.

This workbook by Black scholar and artist Neema Githere addresses the emotional impacts of social media, providing tools for mental resilience and healthier digital engagement practices.Tech Literacy & Accessibility: By encouraging users to explore the impact of social media on their emotions and self-image, the workbook promotes digital literacy focused on emotional wellbeing. It introduces exercises in compassion, self-reflection, and goal-setting that make online engagement more intentional and mentally sustainable.Reducing Harm in New Media: The workbook acknowledges and addresses the toxic dynamics of social media, encouraging users to question digital attachments and pressures for validation. By guiding users toward self-aware online habits, it reduces harm associated with anxiety, self-doubt, and judgment that many experience in digital spaces.Data & Knowledge Stewardship: The Data Healing Workbook arguably reflects principles of Black community healing and knowledge stewardship by addressing the emotional and psychological impacts of digital spaces, a unique challenge for many within Black communities navigating the dynamics of visibility, representation, and self-preservation online. Neema Githere’s work directly engages with the concept of FOPO (Fear of Posting Online), a sentiment many Black individuals experience due to heightened scrutiny, misrepresentation, or outright hostility in digital spaces. By framing digital engagement as an attachment-based relationship, Githere invites users to view social media not merely as a tool but as a complex interaction that influences their mental health and self-worth.In line with knowledge stewardship rooted in Black cultural values, Githere uses protection and bypass protocols to manage access to the workbook, ensuring it reaches those who approach it with respect and intentionality. This approach reflects longstanding practices within Black communities of preserving culturally sensitive knowledge while making foundational concepts accessible to all. By offering her favourite section, “Introducing Digital Attachment Styles,” freely to the public, Githere provides an entryway into the workbook’s transformative insights, creating a bridge to self-reflection and growth that doesn’t require full access to the private document.In doing so, Githere enacts a form of knowledge stewardship that resonates with Black healing traditions: balancing openness with protection, fostering individual and collective wellness, and allowing critical resources to circulate within community-defined boundaries. The workbook is both a guide to navigating digital spaces and a framework for supporting mental and emotional resilience, underscoring a commitment to community-centred healing and responsible sharing of knowledge.