Kyla Woods
Contributing Writer
Social and political problems are not exclusive to generations that grew up with social media, but how these generations approach these problems has come to be different due to social media’s influence.
Social media has proven to be an easy and effective way to reach millions of people in a short amount of time. It can be used for a myriad of purposes, such as marketing products, making connections, and spreading the word. This begs the question: how does social media influence activism? Social media as a concept is the perfect tool to coordinate mass acts of social or political change, and in some cases (Black Lives Matter (BLM), #MeToo, etc.) it has proven to do so effectively. As we all know, however, social media has its own set of problems, so it’s clear that contemporary activism taking place on social media will be infected by the pre-existing issues present within the social media landscape.
Activism within social media has two main goals: recognition and change. Gaining recognition means that more people are aware of the issue, which will open up conversations. Implementing change means that activists can organize to help fix the issue. The popularity of social media activism has introduced the contemporary term slacktivism, which is defined by the Oxford dictionary as, “Actions performed via the internet in support of a political or social cause (e.g. signing an online petition), characterized as requiring little time, effort, or commitment, or as providing more personal satisfaction than public impact.”
Social media is a system controlled by algorithms and trends. Certain accounts are pushed by these algorithms to audiences depending on what they like and what is popular. There are even times when activism doesn’t reach general audiences, because activism content is not pushed. Oftentimes, movements surrounding activism are seen as trends, even though they shouldn’t be. Knowing these activism movements will eventually fade away — like a trendy piece of clothing — contributes to the rise in slacktivism. Considering modern attention spans and how fast the internet moves, activism movements that manage to gain steam last for so little time — just another internet fad, I guess — and it is impossible to materialize any change.
Even though slacktivism exists (as a disappointing but expected side effect of online activism), it doesn’t ruin the importance of good online activism, as seen in the BLM protests in the summer of 2020. BLM was criticized because it was often muddied by online slacktivists who didn’t understand the importance of the movement, only seeing the attention it was gaining. An example of this is the Instagram blackout of 2020, that sparked a lot of criticism concerning what is considered good and bad online activism. Regardless of slackists inserting themselves in the movement, BLM was still able to call attention to the unfair treatment of Black people by the police. The movement hosted protests across the country, enacting social and political change beyond posting a black square.
Even though some of these movements may seem useless — because they either last for very little time or they never make it past the computer screen — they still make their mark on society. They still are able to open up much needed conversations about topics that wouldn’t be discussed or even acknowledged if it weren’t for social media.