Real Change or Slactivism?

Real Change or Slactivism ?

Social media has been used to raise awareness on many issues which can be used to make it as a widespread viral promotions to promote a good cause but sometimes sharing the post on Facebook and posting likes and doing an activity doesn’t really helps the campaign, it's great to tell your friends that something is important enough to share with them, but it's virtually meaningless if it doesn't lead to further action. If you can't go beyond the virtual realm and actually do something about it, you really don't care that much about it at all. Slacktivists are a generation of digital activists who like, share, tweet, hashtag, and re-blog social causes, but supposedly do not bring about any real change. When someone on social media shares a status update or a link, a person might feel that they've already done their part, which absolves them of the responsibility to do anything more. But until they've put genuine time and effort into helping a cause, they really haven't done much. In fact, if they feel that sharing a link has lifted the burden of action from you, then they actually be even less likely to contribute to a cause when it matters most.

The online petition is very common. Online petitions are not generally binding on anyone, so they carry essentially no weight at all. But they're an easy way to make people think they're accomplishing something, so companies like Change.org offer them by the hundreds of thousands; Google currently lists about three quarters of a million petitions on that site alone. Perhaps once in a long while, a petition will garner enough signatures to persuade a reporter to write an article that a company may respond to from a public relations perspective; but more often, these are not productive. 

One such example of slacktivism was the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” The concept was simple: dump a bucket of ice-water on your head, have a friend film your performance, post and share the video online and nominate other friends to do the same. The point of the challenge is to raise awareness about a cause and give cash to a charity. Some ambiguity exists as to whether you’re supposed to do the challenge instead of donating, or do both. But this comment might be beside the post when you consider the sheer volume of donations the ALS Association has received over the past month. Most of the users spent money on preparing the video spent money on buying the camera and bags for the video then tagging their old friends. Showing it to people they care and doing that people feel to be a part of something bigger than themselves. The viral nature of this almost hurts ALS due to the substitution of potential donations with a social post; internally, people think they have donated when in turn they've only posted.

Raising awareness with Facebook "Like" buttons certainly does no harm, but it's called slacktivism for a reason. By doing it, you're slacking. You're only making yourself feel good. If you really care about the issue, find out what group is actually out there on the ground working to solve it, find out what their real needs are, and do whatever it takes. Probably it involves writing a check. If you can't afford to give, and you feel that clicking the "Like" button is better than doing nothing at all, then first trouble yourself to research if this issue is even real. By being able to connect online, this generation is more aware of the world as a whole and the various social and political problems different people face. It is not about social media, or the way in which the message was delivered. It is now about being armed with the information and what we choose to do with it.

References:

Avneet Dhillon. (June 27, 2014). Beyond Slacktivism: How Social Media Powers Online Fundraising. Flipgive Retreived from http://blog.flipgive.com/beyond-slacktivism-social-media-and-online-fundraising

Scott Gilmore. (November 11, 2014,). The problem with slacktivism, Macleans.ca. Retrieved from http://www.macleans.ca/society/the-real-problem-with-slacktivism/

Brian Dunning (June 17, 2014) Slacktivism: Raising Awareness, Skeptoid Retrieved from http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4419

Penny Carothers, (Jul/Aug, 2012) Slacktivism is our generation all talk when it comes to social justice? Relevant Magazine Issue 58. Retrieved From http://www.relevantmagazine.com/reject-apathy/worldview/slacktivism

Ben Kosinski. (July 10, 2014). #IceBucketChallenge: Why you’re Not Really Helping Huffington Post Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-kosinski/icebucketchallenge-why-yo_b_5656649.html