The United Nations defines slacktivism as when people “support a cause by performing simple measures” but are not necessarily “engaged or devoted to making a change.” Other frequently used terms are ‘clicktivism’ or ‘armchair activism’.
Radically, slacktivism is a way to voice your opinion about a certain cause without steering to the streets or jeopardizing your neck. It’s the viral hashtag you’re retweeting. The quote on your shirt. The rainbow-colored flag you posted. The ‘Save The girl child’-petition you signed last week.
we do those things with the best intentions. But is this a legitimate type of activism? Or is it just a way to appease our conscience without really having to engage?
In some behavior, this can also betoken that we are only explicating how disconcerted, offended, or outraged we are when the topic is "trending", because like a hashtag our concerns also become a "fleeting course".
Slacktivism has been divided into five subcategories: clicktivism, sympathy, political, charity (direct), and charity (a by-product of consumption), and the article tends to be deprecatory.
We can not deny that Slacktivism was born after the creation of social media and is often synonymous with viral movements. Since it is low-cost, low-risk, and noncommittal, slacktivism makes engagement easy for the public. The prime example of slacktivism gone right is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge campaign. People joined in because they like the feeling of being a part of something. Everyone’s timeline was full of people sharing their videos on social media and challenging their friends to do the same, which resulted in tons of social media interaction and millions of dollars for ALS research.
The number of people dumping ice-cold buckets of water might have exceeded the number of donations, but since the movement caught on like wildfire, the campaign was still wildly successful and has even inspired several other similar movements. The cool thing about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is that it made the most of slacktivism on social media while encouraging actual action—either dumping the bucket or donating to the ALS Foundation. While slacktivism has its place, it’s not exactly the silver bullet to making a big change in the world. It’s so easy to passively like a Facebook page, retweet an article to bring awareness or change your profile picture, and never actually engage. Though slacktivism may inspire, according to a study done by researchers at Michigan State University, it normally only reaches to other low-cost, low-risk solutions like signing an online petition but not contributing any money.
If someone donates, they’re more likely to stay engaged or even increase engagement. But the problem arises with public actions.
When something is done with the appropriate intentions and thought it can never be regarded as immoral, but the point we want to bring out here is that if you genuinely have regard for thought don't just stick to reposting a tweet or story do something more, it can even be by just educating yourself more on the topic. Social Media is a huge platform and we can achieve so much just with a click so why not use it to generate strong revolutions.
Writer - Hrishita
Editor - Priyam
Graphics - Thea Sinsin
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